Lucknow: The draft electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh, which will be published December 31, is likely to have the names of about 12.55 crore voters, with almost 2.89 crore names deleted from the pre-SIR voter list. Those excluded will have a chance to contest the deletion starting January 1, the state’s chief electoral officer said Sunday.
Among the 12,55,56,000 voters who have made it to the draft list, more than 1 crore are in the “unmapped” category, meaning notices will be sent out to them to furnish self-attested documents from among the list of the 12 mandated by the Election Commission (EC) to be moved into the “mapped” category, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa told PTI.
The nearly 52-day Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with ‘Shuddh Nirvachak Namavali – Majboot Loktantra’ (Clean Electoral Roll – Strong Democracy) as its theme, began in the state November 4 and concluded after two extensions on December 26 with a pruned draft voter list.
“Starting January 1, the EC will roll out a month-long process during which any of the nearly 2.89 crore voters, 2,88,75,000 to be precise, whose names have been deleted for various reasons and want to contest the action can reapply by filling out Form 6,” Rinwa told PTI.
“Form 6 can also be used by new voters to apply,” Rinwa said.
The deletion of 2,88,75,000 names, accounting for roughly 18.70 per cent of the total 15,44,00,000 voters who were part of the pre-SIR electoral roll, was done for a variety of reasons like death, change of residence or being enrolled as voters elsewhere, he said.
Most of the deletions were reported from big urban centres, including Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj and Kanpur, the officer said.
“Untraceable or missing voters, who also figure among the deleted, would need to show proof of (inclusion in) the 2003 SIR list or any of the ECI-prescribed documents for getting their names added to the voters’ list,” he added.
Between January 1 and 31, Rinwa said, the EC will also invite objections to the inclusion of the nearly 12.55 crore names in the draft electoral roll. These objections can be filed by filling out Form 7.
If the objection against the inclusion of a name in the draft list is found valid, it may be removed from the list.
Similarly, if a person in the “unmapped” category fails to furnish relevant documents, like a birth certificate or residence proof, a copy of the family register, a passport, or a school certificate with a birthdate, they may also not make it to the final list.
“Over 91 per cent of the voters to figure in the draft voter list are mapped. The Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) would start sending out notices to the remaining over 1 crore unmapped voters, urging them to furnish relevant documents.
“This process will continue well into February 2026,” Rinwa said.
He said less than 8 lakh people have not returned the forms provided to them through the booth-level officers and thus found their way into the list of deleted names.
“We cannot force them to fill up their forms,” he said.
The deletion of names from the voter list has triggered a political slugfest in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state.
The opposition, particularly the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, have flagged concerns over the SIR exercise, alleging that it is tailored to suit the ruling BJP.
The BJP has rejected the opposition pitch as “bogus” and an attempt to shield “ghuspaithiyas (intruders)”.
