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UP: 2.89 crore voters removed from draft rolls; marks highest number of deletions in country after initial phase of SIR
Public Lokpal
January 06, 2026
UP: 2.89 crore voters removed from draft rolls; marks highest number of deletions in country after initial phase of SIR
New Delhi: As many as 2.89 crore voters, who made up 18.70 per cent of the total electorate in Uttar Pradesh, were removed from the draft electoral rolls published on Tuesday after the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
The state has topped the list of voter deletions in the country after the initial phase of SIR.
According to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa, the remaining 12.55 crore voters out of the total 15.44 crore listed earlier have made it to the draft voter list.
"The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state," he said at a press conference.
The CEC claimed the 2.89 crore voters could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations.
Giving details about the deleted voters, Rinwa said 46.23 lakh voters (2.99 per cent) were found to be deceased, while 2.57 crore voters (14.06 per cent) had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.
Another 25.47 lakh voters (1.65 per cent) were found to be registered at more than one place.
The CEO said a one-month claims and objections period would begin on January 6 and continue till February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction or raise objections to the draft roll.
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 15,44,30,092 voters 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.
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.
The exercise involved 1,72,486 booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters.
Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, saying 5,76,611 booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.
Agency
