2.89 crore dropped, UP witnesses highest number of voter deletions among all states

Releasing the draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday after a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, the Election Commission said that 18.70 per cent, or about 2.89 crore voters of 15.44 crore listed earlier have been removed from the draft list. The draft electoral roll was released today after the enumeration process was extended three times amid concerns over large-scale deletions in the country’s most populous state.

The final voter list under SIR will be issued on March 6, 2026.

Addressing the press, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa attributed the massive reduction to three primary categories of “ASDD” (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate) voters. “The number of enumeration forms we received was approximately 12 crore, 55 lakh. This means that this many people returned the forms signed, indicating that their names should be included in the draft list. There were 46.23 lakh such deceased voters. There are 2.17 crore voters who have migrated, those who have shifted from their place of residence, who have left the house where they were residing when they registered their name in the voter list, and have permanently moved, or are missing or absent, or could not be found by the BLOs in the field.”

About 25 lakh voters’ names were registered in more than one place on the voter list, he said, giving details of the 2.89 crore names exempted from the draft rolls.”

UP has highest number of voter deletions among all states

With 2.89 crore names deleted, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of deletions. Tamil Nadu followed with 15% of voter deletions and Gujarat (14.5%) stood third, according to the states’ draft rolls published earlier this month.

Alleging a “big conspiracy”, state Congress President Ajay Rai said the deletion of 2.89 crore voters (from UP SIR draft list) is a matter of inquiry. “1.13 crore forms, which were not returned. This is a big conspiracy, and a probe should be done,” he told ANI.

The Election Commission has stressed that genuine voters who were erroneously removed can still get their names back on the roll.

“Under the SIR in UP today, we are publishing the draft electoral roll. In the 75 districts of the state, Returning Officers conducted a meeting with political parties and they have been given the printed copies of the draft electoral rolls. If you go to the website ceouttarpradesh.nic.in, voters can check their names on the list. The SIR started from October 27, 2025 and from November 4, the enumeration phase started. The day SIR was announced, the existing voter list was frozen. All 15 crore 44 lakh 30092 voters were given individual enumeration forms. The enumeration phase took place till December 26 as we asked for 15 days extra from ECI,” Navdeep Rinwa added.

Voters whose name are missing from the list should fill out Form 6, Rinwa said.

About UP SIR

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.

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.