politics • Jan. 9, 2026

Uttar Pradesh Draft Voter List 2026: 2.89 Crore Names Removed After SIR

Uttar Pradesh’s draft voter list removes 2.89 crore names after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), sparking political reactions. Check what it means for voters, claims, and the final list.

The Election Commission after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), released the draft revised list for Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday which said that 2.89 crore voters have been removed from the electoral rolls in the state, including 46 lakh voters who are dead. 18.70% voters were excluded from the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations. U.P.

holds the highest number of names deleted for any state or union territory in absolute number, with only Andaman and Nicobar having more deletions in percentage terms. Uttar Pradesh was the latest to publish the draft list in the second phase of SIR among other states and U.T.s. The deletion rates for Tamil Nadu was 15.19%, Gujarat 14.5%, West Bengal 7.59%, Madhya Pradesh 7.45%, Rajasthan 7.65%, Chhattisgarh 12.88%, Kerala 8.65%, Puducherry 10.12%, Goa 8.44% and Lakshadweep 2.47%.

Out of the total 2.89 crore people whose names have been removed, 2.17 crore have moved, 46.23 lakh are dead, and 25.47 lakh are registered in more than one place. The final list will be published on March 6. Official figures state that Uttar Pradesh had around 15.44 crore registered voters at the time the SIR was announced on October 27, 2025.

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were responsible for door-to-door verification and collecting signed enumeration forms for each voter. Out of the total electorate, 12,55,56,025 enumeration forms were returned, representing 81.03% of voters. However, forms from about 18.7% of voters were not received, leading to the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft voter list.

In Lalitpur, the number of registered voters has dropped from 9.5 lakh as of September 27, 2025, to 8.6 lakh, reflecting a decline of 10%. Urban areas experienced the highest proportion of deletions, with the state capital Lucknow leading at 30%, followed closely by Ghaziabad, an industrial district near Delhi, at 28%. Gautam Buddha Nagar, also adjacent to Delhi, saw 23.7% of names removed, while Prayagraj and Kanpur recorded 24% and 25% deletions, respectively.

The SIR process in the state has so far spanned 62 days and required three extensions. The Election Commission had originally scheduled the enumeration process to last one week, with a December 11 deadline. However, with nearly 2.97 crore names under review and ongoing mapping work, Uttar Pradesh authorities requested more time.

Administrative challenges, including uneven workloads for BLOs—some managing over 1,200 voters each—and the addition of 1,530 new polling stations on December 23, further delayed the process. The Commission granted three extensions, first to December 26, then to December 31, and finally to January 6, before the draft voter list was published on Tuesday. With the publication of the draft voter list, a month-long period for claims and objections has begun.

Voters who submitted enumeration forms but were not mapped to the 2003 list will be called for a hearing, where they can present any of the 12 documents approved by the Election Commission as proof of citizenship and residence. Uttar Pradesh’s draft voter list affects nearly 2.89 crore people, highlighting challenges in keeping electoral rolls accurate amid deaths, migration, and duplicate registrations. The exercise exposed social and administrative hurdles, including illiteracy and overworked election officials, with urban areas seeing the highest deletions.

Political tensions have also surfaced, with opposition parties alleging bias, while officials stress voters can check and correct their records through Form 6. The final list, due on March 6, will shape the electorate for upcoming elections and test trust in the state’s democratic process.The scale of the deletions has drawn sharp political reactions, with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleging that the SIR exercise has “disproportionately affected certain voter groups.” Addressing the criticism, Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Randeep Rinwa said, “We have dropped 2.89 crore voters from the list and issued a notification for voters to file claims till February 6,” adding that “voters can search their names and file their claims on the EC website.” Rinwa said the revision exercise covered 1,72,486 polling booths across the state, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters. He also acknowledged the role of political parties, noting that “5,76,611 booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.” Opposition parties have stepped up their criticism of the SIR exercise, alleging that many voters were wrongly removed simply because they had changed residences within Uttar Pradesh, placing the burden of proof on individuals under tight deadlines.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said the scale of deletions suggested the presence of “far more Rohingya refugees” in Uttar Pradesh than in West Bengal, questioning the BJP’s claims about similar removals in the eastern state. The Congress also announced plans to launch a mass movement against what it called biased deletions. Senior leader Anil Yadav cited the removal of Gurdeep Singh Sappal, a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, and alleged that “selectively names of people from marginalised sections like Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been removed.” Responding to the criticism, Chief Electoral Officer Randeep Rinwa said that 8.5% of voters could not be mapped because they failed to link themselves to relatives listed in the 2003 electoral rolls from the previous SIR exercise.

During the enumeration exercise, several villagers had complained of many women in rural areas losing touch with their parents after marriage and how they could not link themselves to them in the SIR form. Some explained illiteracy as the reason behind them not filling out the forms. According to a report of the education department, the illiteracy rate is over 30 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.

“We want to make it clear that there is no need to panic if you don’t see your name on the list. We have floated Form 6, which the excluded voters can fill out online or offline and submit along with the proof of identity. We believe that there are 16 crore voters in the state, but we were able to confirm only 12.55 crore.

Each BLO had to meet 1,200 voters. Obviously, there will be human errors. This is the reason we are giving a month for filing appeals,” Rinwa said.

He said the survey found 46.23 lakh deceased voters and 25.47 lakh names listed at multiple booths and added that the final list will be published on March 6.The exercise involved a massive administrative effort, with 42 assistant electoral registration officers and 16,62,486 booth-level officers deployed across 403 Assembly constituencies to distribute and collect enumeration forms. The publication of the draft voter list was postponed three times. The process also took a human toll.

At least five BLOs reportedly died by suicide due to work pressure linked to the SIR, while another six died of heart attacks while on duty. Reacting to the developments, state Congress president Ajay Rai alleged political bias, saying, “The SIR is a design of the BJP to list only its own voters,” and warned that “the people understand everything and will teach them a lesson in the elections..