Lucknow, December 11, 2025 – The Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) is on the cusp of a sweeping revision of electoral rolls, with an estimated 2.91 crore names—out of a total 15.44 crore registered voters—poised for deletion under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. These deletions target deceased individuals, those who have shifted residences, duplicates, and absentees, aiming to ensure the integrity of the voter database ahead of future polls. In a key development, the Commission plans to distribute finalized lists to booth-level agents (BLAs) of major political parties by Friday, December 12, allowing for last-minute verifications.
The SIR campaign, launched on November 4, represents one of the most intensive voter list audits in the state's history. According to updated data from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Navdeep Rinwa, nearly 19% of entries—precisely 2.91 crore—remain in the "unverified" category. This includes 1.27 crore voters who have permanently shifted locations, 45.95 lakh deceased individuals, 23.69 lakh duplicate entries, 9.58 lakh who failed to return enumeration forms, and a staggering 84.73 lakh absent voters. The average deletions per polling station across the state stand at 179, with Uttar Pradesh boasting 1,62,486 polling booths serviced by over 4,42,000 BLAs from recognized parties.
In a bid to enhance accuracy, the CEO's office has requested—and received—a two-week extension of the SIR deadline from December 11 to December 25. This move, confirmed by Election Commission sources, provides district election officers additional time to re-verify entries, particularly for deceased and shifted voters, before the draft rolls are published. "We plan to verify each of these 2.91 crore voters before finalizing the draft electoral rolls," Rinwa stated, emphasizing the scale of the operation. "The names of deceased, shifted, duplicate, and untraceable voters will be removed to maintain a clean and credible voter list."
Booth-level officers (BLOs) have been instructed to convene meetings with BLAs by December 12, handing over verified lists for upload on the CEO and district websites. So far, 99.24% of enumeration forms have been digitized, with 76% of electors successfully mapped to the 2003 baseline voter list. However, challenges persist in urban centers like Lucknow and Ghaziabad, where preliminary reports suggest deletion rates could climb to 25-30% due to high mobility and outdated records.
Political parties have been urged to collaborate closely. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers to ensure all eligible voters are enrolled, while Samajwadi Party MP Rajeev Rai has voiced concerns in Parliament over potential disenfranchisement during the process. Rinwa appealed for cooperation, noting, "All recognized political parties must assist in verifying deceased, transferred, absent, and duplicate voters to avoid errors."
Earlier projections had hinted at over 3 crore deletions, but refined data from district reports has settled on the 2.91 crore figure, reflecting ongoing fieldwork across more than 91,000 booths where SIR completion has reached 100%. Districts like Etah report the highest shifted voter rates at around 7.9%, followed by absentees at 5.7% and deceased at 2.49%.
This revision comes at a critical juncture, as Uttar Pradesh—India's most populous state—prepares for upcoming local and national elections. A cleaner voter roll is expected to streamline polling logistics and reduce bogus voting, though critics warn that hasty deletions could inadvertently exclude genuine voters. The SEC maintains that the multi-stage verification, including party inputs, will safeguard against such risks.
As BLAs gear up for the December 12 handover, the focus shifts to rapid resolution of the unverified entries, with the extended deadline offering a buffer for comprehensive checks. Updates on the draft rolls' publication are anticipated soon after.
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