At 8.4 million, SIR in Uttar Pradesh sees highest addition of voters from draft rolls

UTtar Pradesh’s electorate expanded by 8.43 zillion betwixt the outline undulate in jan and the final numbers released on Friday, the highest among the 13 states and Union Territories where the special intensive revision (SIR) has concluded.India’s most-populous state completed the controversial process with 13.2% deletions, second only to Gujarat, which saw 13.4% deletions. The state’s total electorate stood at 133.98 million, 20.45 million fewer than on October 27, when the rolls were frozen for SIR. The controversial process stretched across 157 days and an unprecedented four extensions, marking the longest time taken for SIR to be completed in a region. In contrast, West Bengal received one extension, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu each got two extensions.Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in early 2027.“In the entire Special Intensive Revision, no deletion has been done without following the prescribed due process. No removal from the voter list has taken place without proper procedure. If any name present in the draft electoral roll published on January 6, 2026 is not in the final electoral roll, it has either been removed after submission of Form 7 or after a notice and hearing process, based on the decision of the ERO,” chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa saidThe draft roll, published on January 6, followed the first phase of SIR where all electors not found to be absent, shifted, dead, or duplicated were included in the rolls. The final roll saw a 6.7% expansion, the highest among all 13 states and UTs where SIR was concluded. The additions between the draft and final roll explain why the net deletion in Uttar Pradesh decreased from 18.7% at the draft stage (the highest among all states) to 13.2% in the final roll (second highest after Gujarat). During the first phase of SIR, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had expressed concern that many of those deleted were Bharatiya Janata Party voters.Urban centres continue to lead in net deletions. The districts with the highest net deletions were Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Meerut, where the post-SIR roll had 22.9%, 20.2%, 19.4%, 19.3%, and 18.7% fewer electors, respectively, than the pre-SIR roll,. All these districts were among the top five even at the draft stage excluding Gautam Buddha Nagar, which was ranked seventh at that stage. Balrampur, a rural district that was ranked third at the draft stage, has moved down to the 11th spot.The districts with the lowest deletions were Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Pilibhit, Mahoba, and Banda, where the rolls contracted by 6.7%, 6.9%, 8%, 8.5%, and 8.9% respectively. Pilibhit moved from the sixth spot in the draft roll in terms of deletions to the third spot and Amroha moved from the fifth spot to the seventh spot.The district-wise deletion data didn’t show a correlation with the share of Muslim population in a district. To be sure, Uttar Pradesh did not see a controversial and protracted adjudication process like West Bengal.At the level of the assembly constituencies (ACs), the highest deletions were recorded in Lucknow Cantt., Allahabad North, Lucknow East, Lucknow North, and Agra Cantt., where the electoral roll shrunk by 34.2%, 34.0%, 31.0%, 31.0%, and 30.5% respectively. The seats with the lowest deletions were Mehroni, Barkhera, Kundarki, Tindwari, and Sirsaganj, where the contraction was 4.2%, 4.7%, 4.9%, 5%, 5.1% respectively.The SIR also witnessed the deletion of more women voters than men. In the draft roll, the names of 15.5 million women voters were deleted, compared to 13.4 million men, bringing the gender ratio down from 877 (in the pre-SIR voter list) to 824. In the final electoral roll, the gender ratio rose to 834. The CEO said 815,000 deleted voters in the final list included 350,000 who did not reply to ECI notices, 328,000 permanently shifted/ absent voters, 79,076 duplicate voters, 55,865 deceased voters and 2,269 voters who were not Indian citizens or were found under age.In absolute terms, the districts with the highest deletions were Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, and Ghaziabad – 914,185, 826,885, 687,201, 637,653, and 574,478, respectively. The districts with the lowest deletions in absolute terms were Hamirpur, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, and Shrawasti, where only 57,742; 58,702; 63,811; 70,750; and 100,396 deletions, respectively took place.The seats with the highest deletions in absolute terms were Sahibabad, Noida, Lucknow North, Agra Cantt., and Allahabad North, where 316,484; 183,887; 154,710; 147,182; and 145,810 deletions respectively took place. The seats with the lowest deletions were Barkhera, Tindwari, Sirsaganj, Kundarki, and Mehroni, where 15,803; 16,358; 16,696; 19,146; and 19,454 deletions respectively took place.Rinwa said the final voter list comprised 133,984,792 voters, including 73,071,061 (54.54%) men, 60,909,525 (45.46%) women and 4,206 (0.01%) third gender voters. There were 1,763,360 (1.32%) first-time voters in the age group of 18-19 years, he said. Rinwa said the exercise was carried out with the contribution of 75 district election officers (DEOs), 403 electoral registration officers (EROs), 12,758 assistant EROs (AEROs), 18,026 booth level officer (BLO) supervisors and 1,77,516 BLOs. In addition, 582,877 booth-level agents of recognised political parties and crores of voters extended cooperation, he said, adding that print, electronic and digital media also played a key role in awareness efforts.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday alleged irregularities in the SIR, accusing the BJP of “hiding behind institutions” when it faces electoral challenges. “Going by the voter list that has come out now, one can assume that when the BJP starts losing on issues, it fights elections by hiding behind institutions,” Yadav said.The state Congress termed the SIR “illegal” with UP Congress chief Ajay Rai saying that it constitutes a “betrayal of democracy and a violation of the public’s voting rights”.