UP SIR: Draft electoral roll released after revision, 2.89 crore names excluded

The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on Tuesday following a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, with 12.55 crore voters retained out of the 15.44 crore listed earlier, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said.

Addressing a press conference here, Rinwa said the remaining 18.70 per cent — around 2.89 crore voters — could not be included in the draft list due to reasons such as deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations.

He said the Election Commission had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive as part of the revision exercise, during which enumeration forms were required to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.

The CEO said the exercise was originally scheduled to conclude on December 11, but the state sought an additional 15 days after it was observed that the names of a large number of voters — nearly 2.97 crore — were getting excluded from the draft list. Consequently, the enumeration phase was extended until December 26.

Providing a detailed breakdown, Rinwa said that out of 15,44,30,092 voters listed in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12,55,56,025 voters, accounting for 81.30 per cent of the electorate.

He said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date for the draft electoral roll. However, parallel fieldwork and instructions from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to rationalise polling stations resulted in a delay.

“The Commission has capped voters per polling station at 1,200 instead of the earlier norm of 1,500. To meet this requirement, around 15,030 new polling stations were created across the state,” Rinwa said.

He added that approval for the rationalisation exercise was received on December 23, and it took around a week for the updated data to be migrated to servers. As a result, six additional days were sought, and the draft electoral roll was ultimately published on January 6.

Explaining the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft list, the CEO said 46.23 lakh voters, or 2.99 per cent, were found to be deceased. Another 2.57 crore voters, or 14.06 per cent, had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.

In addition, 25.47 lakh voters, accounting for 1.65 per cent of the electorate, were found to be registered at more than one place, he said.

“The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state,” Rinwa said.

He said the exercise involved 1,72,486 polling booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters during the enumeration drive. Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, stating that 5,76,611 booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.

The CEO said a one-month claims and objections period would begin on January 6 and continue until February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction, or raise objections to the draft electoral roll.

(With inputs from agencies)