Uttar Pradesh’s draft electoral roll slashes 2.89 crore names to 12.55 crore after Special Intensive Revision, citing deaths, migrations, and duplicates-mostly urban. Objections open till 6 February as ECI faces opposition flak for speed as final list nears 6 March.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) executed a sweeping Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, culminating in the 6 January 2026 release of a draft electoral roll trimmed from 15.44 crore to 12.55 crore voters.
This 18.7% reduction-2.89 crore deletions-stems from rigorous verification, spotlighting 46.23 lakh deceased, 2.17 crore migrated or untraced, and 25.47 lakh duplicates.
Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa affirmed 81.3% form returns, with urban hubs like Lucknow (12 lakh cuts) and Ghaziabad bearing the brunt due to flux of people.
This purge aligns with ECI’s nationwide push for pristine rolls ahead of potential polls, adding 15,030 polling stations to limit booths to 1,200 voters. Families in districts like Prayagraj and Kanpur navigated the process, signing for lost kin or relocated relatives, humanising a bureaucratic overhaul.
Rinwa noted, “Over 15 crore voters or families returned signed forms,” underscoring verification’s scale across 75 districts, where Lalitpur saw the mildest trim at 95,000.
Breakdown of Deletions by Category
Deceased voters topped the list at 46.23 lakh, a grim tally reflecting Uttar Pradesh’s vast populace where death records lag. Migration or unverified cases-2.17 crore-highlight rural-to-urban shifts and inter-state moves, common in labour-intensive belts.
Duplicates at 25.47 lakh arose from multi-place registrations, often by oversight in fast-growing cities.
Officials dissected urban vulnerabilities: Lucknow’s 30.04% deletion rate dwarfed rural stability, per ANI reports. “These ensure only eligible voters remain,” Rinwa emphasised, tying cuts to non-responses (18.7%).
The SIR, extended to 26 December 2025, cross-checked Aadhaar, rations, and gazettes, barring mass deletions without proof. This mirrors Maharashtra’s 2024 drive, deleting 45 lakh, proving ECI’s data-driven rigour.
Verification camps engaged booth-level agents, collecting Forms 4 (updates) from 8.67 crore, while 15.78 lakh await inclusion via Forms 6-8. Helpline 1950 and NVSP portal streamline claims, with free facilities for seniors, disabled, and new 18-year-olds by 1 January 2026. Such measures counter past bloating, where ghost voters skewed turnouts.
Timeline and Voter Action Window
The draft’s 6 January unveil sparked a 30-day frenzy: claims, objections, and corrections close 6 February, processing all by final publication on 6 March.
ECI mandates online/offline submissions, prioritising 81 lakh pending Form 6s for newcomers. Rinwa highlighted, “We opened a new window for the 2.89 crore to return,” via TOI, easing reinstatements.
Post-draft, booth visits and apps like Voter Helpline app empower checks. Camps target vulnerable groups, echoing Tamil Nadu’s 97 lakh and Gujarat’s 74 lakh deletions, ensuring nationwide parity.
This cadence-intensive yearly revisions-guards against fraud, vital in Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats. Delays risk disenfranchising millions, yet streamline democracy’s backbone.
Opposition Voices and Political Heat
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav decried hasty purges on X, spotlighting Mainpuri losses: “ECI must fix valid deletions before voter backlash.”
SP’s Ravidas Mehrotra and Congress’s Ajay Rai echoed, slamming the “rushed timeline” and urging facilitated inclusions. No major BJP retorts surfaced, but ECI insists process transparency.
Critics fear migrant workers, often unlettered, miss forms amid daily wages. Yet, ECI counters with multi-channel outreach-SMS, media, door-to-door-claiming 81% engagement proves efficacy.
This tussle underscores stakes: accurate rolls prevent booth capturing, boost turnout from Uttar Pradesh’s 2022 61%. Political rows amplify as 2027 assembly polls loom.
SIR’s Broader Role in Indian Elections
The SIR, ECI’s periodic detox, mandates house-to-house checks, adding genuines while axing fakes. Launched mid-2025 in Uttar Pradesh, it addressed post-2024 complaints of inflated lists padding margins. Nationally, it synchronises with delimitation whispers, capping anomalies before boundaries redraw.
Human stories emerge: a Kanpur widow reclaiming her vote post-husband’s deletion; Ghaziabad youth registering afresh. ECI’s 1,200-voter booth cap enhances management, cutting queues.
Lessons from Bihar’s 2025 mini-SIR inform scaling, positioning Uttar Pradesh as a model for 90 crore national voters.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
This bold revision fortifies trust in ballots, yet empathy must guide reinstating migrants and families overlooked in the rush-embodying our call for kindness, dialogue, and harmony amid flux.
By spotlighting camps and helplines, it fosters coexistence, urging collective vigilance for inclusive polls and positive change.
