UP SIR Completed: Lucknow Sees Highest Deletions; Final Claims Open Until Feb 6

Om Prakash

Hyderabad: Amid fears of disenfranchisement and the politics surrounding it, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 process has finally been completed in Uttar Pradesh.

On January 6, 2026, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh Navdeep Rinwa released the Draft Electoral Roll. However, this list is not yet final, because the Election Commission has given one month's time for objections and claims.

When was the last SIR held in UP?

According to the Election Commission of India, the last SIR in Uttar Pradesh was held in 2003. After almost 22 years, the voter list in Uttar Pradesh is being revised. The SIR process in 12 states, including Uttar Pradesh, started from 4 November 2025, which was to be completed on 4 December and the final list was to be released on 11 December. But during this time, there was a lot of uproar and commotion in UP.

Why was the SIR deadline extended?

During the SIR process, a number of Block Level Officers (BLOs) engaged by the ECI died by suicide, complaining about work pressure and many died of heart attacks. At the same time, the opposition accused the Yogi government of exploiting and pressuring the employees. The Election Commission listened to the growing opposition demands for an extension of the SIR deadlines to ease the pressure on BLOs and allow time for voters with discrepancies to gather their documents. Leaders of the opposition parties, including former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, strongly criticised the ECI for the death of the BLOs and demanded an extension of the deadline for completion of the SIR process. After this, the Election Commission has extended till 11 and then 26 December 2025. After this, the draft voter list was released on January 6, 2026.

What is the outcome in the Draft Voters’ list of UP?

In the draft voters’ list published on January 6, the names of 2.89 crore voters were deleted. It was 18.70 per cent of voters' names that were cut. According to the State Election Commission, there were 15,44,30,092 (15.44 crore) voters in the electoral roll on 27 October 2025. After completion of the SIR process, only 12,55,56,025 (81.30%) voters are left. The names of 28874067 (2.89 crore), i.e. 18.70 per cent of voters, have been removed in the draft list. Among them, 4623796 (2.99%), absent 7952190 (5.15%), completely transferred 12977427 (8.40%), 2547207 (1.65%) names have double entries and 773402 (.50%) names of voters have been deleted due to other reasons.

What is the district wise break-up of deletion of names?

The maximum number of deletions of names was recorded in Lucknow. According to the draft list, the names of 1200138 voters or 30.04 per cent of voters, were cut in Lucknow, the capital of UP. At the same time, the names of 9.95 per cent i.e. 95,447 voters have been removed in Mahoba. PM Modi's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi recorded deletion of 5,73,203 names or 18.18%, 902148 (25.50%) in Kanpur, 1156305 (24.64%) in Prayagraj, 403369 (15.14%) in Gautam Budh Nagar, 818139 (28.8%) in Ghaziabad, 665635 (24.65) in Meerut. %), in Agra 836943 (23.25%), in Ayodhya 337542 (17.69%) names of voters have been cut from the list.

What has been the increase in the UP Voters’ List?

The electorate has increased more than 4 times in 74 year. Significantly, the assembly elections were held in Uttar Pradesh in 1951 for the first time after independence. According to the Election Commission of India website, there were 3.17 crore voters in the 1951 assembly elections. While the current draft list released on January 6, 2026 has 12.5 crore voters. That means that in 74 years, the number of voters in Uttar Pradesh has increased more than 4 times.

What is a draft voter list?

Actually, a draft voter list is part of a constitutional process to clean up the voter database before elections. The draft voter list is temporary. It is released to the public so that erroneous entries can be corrected. Missing eligible voters can be added, and dead, duplicate or transferred voters can be removed. This is not the final list. This stage is called claims and objections. The final list is released after the claim objection is over.

How to check your name in the voter list?

You can check your name in the voter list through the list available with the Booth Level Officers, ECINET mobile app, ceouttarpradesh.nic.in or voters.eci.gov.in.

How to add your name in the List if your name is missing?

If your name is not in the voter list, there is no need to panic. It does not invalidate one's right to vote. You can add your name later. The State Election Commission has made it clear that absent voters can re-incorporate their names by filling Form-6 along with the necessary documents between January 6 and February 6, 2026. Applications can be made through BLO, Voter Registration Centre (VRC), or online at https://sec.up.nic.in/OnlineVoters/.

Why is SIR important in UP?

It is noteworthy that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of vote theft before the Bihar assembly elections. Leaders of the Congress and opposition parties had alleged that they won the election by rigging the voter list. After this, the process of Special Intensive Revision 2026 (SIR) was started by the Election Commission of India. Another reason for this is that in a large and dynamic state like Uttar Pradesh, complaints of large-scale internal migration, rental population and duplicate voter cards are constantly coming to the fore.