The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on Tuesday after a Special Intensive Revision exercise, with 2.89 crore voters excluded and 12.55 crore retained out of 15.44 crore listed earlier, Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said on Tuesday.
IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: ANI Photo
The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said, addressing a press conference in Lucknow.
The final electoral list will be published on March 6, Rinwa added.
The opposition parties in UP have criticised the draft electoral roll after the SIR exercise.
Talking to PTI Videos, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said the time allotted for the SIR exercise was short.
“This is a completely hasty decision. The way the SIR process was started by giving only one month in a large state like Uttar Pradesh is unreasonable.
“They gave one month even to a small state like Kerala. Uttar Pradesh should have been given at least five to six months, as was done earlier in 2002-03… Had it been done that way, the booth level officers (BLOs) would not have been under such pressure and suicides could have been avoided.”
He said the exercise would have been smooth had more time been allotted to it and alleged that the rights of the people of UP had been violated.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav warned the Election Commission about the draft roll in Mainpuri, the Lok Sabha constituency of his wife Dimple Yadav.
In a post on X, the Kannauj MP and former UP chief minister said,”Before the anger of the voters turns into agitation, the Election Commission should correct the voter list by taking cognisance of the valid names cut from the SIR in Mainpuri.”
Meanwhile, Rinwa said the Election Commission had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.
While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing 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 till December 26.
According to the CEO, out of 15.44 crore voters in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12.55 crore voters, accounting for 81.30 percent of the electorate.
Rinwa said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date of the draft roll, but parallel fieldwork and ECI instructions to rationalise polling stations led to 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,” he said, adding that approval for the exercise was received on December 23, and it took about a week for the data to be migrated to servers.
As a result, six more days were sought and the draft roll was published on January 6.
Giving details about the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft list, Rinwa said 46.23 lakh voters (2.99 per cent) were found to be deceased, while 2.57 crore voters (14.06 percent) had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.
Another 25.47 lakh voters (1.65 percent) were found to be registered at more than one place.
“The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state,” he said.
The exercise involved 1.72 lakh booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters. Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, saying 5.76 lakh 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 would continue till February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction or raise objections to the draft roll.
The EC also outlined clear remedies for eligible voters whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll published after the SIR exercise.
Rinwa said enumeration forms were received from about 12.55 crore voters during the revision exercise conducted between November 4 and December 26, 2025. The remaining names were excluded primarily due to reasons such as death, permanent migration or absence during verification, and multiple registrations at different locations.
The Commission has opened a claims and objections window from January 6 to February 6, during which any eligible voter whose name is missing can apply for inclusion by submitting Form-6. Voters found registered at more than one place will be retained at only one verified location after scrutiny.
Voters can check their names in the draft roll through BLOs, the ECINet mobile application, the Chief Electoral Officer’s website (ceouttarpradesh.nic.in ) or the Election Commission portal voters.eci.gov.in
Applications can be submitted offline through BLOs or voter registration centres at tehsil offices, or online through the ECINet app and the ECI website.
He said special efforts are being made to assist senior citizens, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups, while youth who turned 18 by January 1, 2026, are being encouraged to apply. More than 15.78 lakh Form-6 applications have already been received.
The officer said no name will be removed from the electoral roll without following due process, reiterating its commitment to a transparent, participatory and inclusive revision to ensure that no eligible voter is left out.
