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SIR process for UP extended again, draft rolls out on Jan 6

Number of voters with “uncollectible” forms in UP was 28.8 mn on Dec 26 when the enumeration phase of SIR concluded

Updated on: Dec 31, 2025, 05:46:46 IST
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LUCKNOW The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday extended the date of publication of the draft electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh, the third such relaxation in India’s most-populous state, and announced a revised schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Under the earlier schedule, the draft electoral roll was to be published on December 31. (Pic for representation)
Under the earlier schedule, the draft electoral roll was to be published on December 31. (Pic for representation)

The draft voter list will be published on January 6, instead of December 31, and the final publication of the list will be on March 6, 2026. During the extended period of the SIR, the poll panel will focus on the enrollment of new voters.

Roughly 28.8 million voters may be deleted from the electoral rolls after the conclusion of the SIR. The number of voters with “uncollectible” forms in UP was 28.8 million on December 26 when the enumeration phase of the SIR concluded. The highest percentage of deletions was likely to be witnessed in urban hubs such as Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut and Agra.

“The SIR schedule has been revised, based on the qualification date of January 1, 2026. Eligible voters - those who have completed 18 years of age or those eligible voters who have not enrolled yet - can get themselves enrolled in the voter list,” said UP chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa.

Earlier, the ECI had announced the notice phase from December 31, 2025, to February 21, 2026. The final publication of the UP electoral roll was to be done on February 28, 2026. Under the revised schedule, the notice phase, adjudication of enumeration forms, disposal of claims and objections will be done from January 6 to February 6, 2026. The final publication of the voter list of UP will be done on March 6, 2026.

The SIR process was launched in UP on November 4 with the house-to-house enumeration. The first phase concluded on December 4. On the request of political parties and district election officers, the ECI extended the enumeration to December 11. Again on the request of political parties, the enumeration was extended to December 26.

The graph of uncollectible voters in UP touched 28.8 million mark on December 26, of which 12. 9 million were categorised as permanently shifted, 4.6 million as deceased, 2.54 million as duplicate and 7.95 million as untraceable, according to data. Another 7,74,472 voters had not returned enumeration forms after collecting them from booth-level officers.

Increase of 15,030 polling stations

UP chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa had on December 29 requested the ECI to reschedule the draft publication of the voter list to January 6 to ensure re-serialisation of electors and subsequent rationalisation of polling stations.

On December 23, the poll panel had approved the proposal for allocation of polling stations based on 1,200 voters in 403 assembly constituencies in 75 UP districts. In 2024 voter list, the allocation of polling stations was based on 1,500 voters.

The process of allocation of polling stations in the state began on October 29. The proposals received from the district election officers of 75 districts were sent to the ECI on November 24.

The number of polling stations in the state was 1,62,486, which increased to 1,77,516 after the fresh allocation. There has been an increase of 15,030 polling stations in the state and additional booth level officers will be deployed at the newly created polling stations.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rajesh Kumar Singh

Rajesh Kumar Singh is Assistant Editor, Hindustan Times, at the political bureau in Lucknow. An Alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi and the University of Delhi, he has covered politics in the Hindi heartland Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for three decades and has written extensively on Dalit and OBC politics. He travelled across Uttar Pradesh to cover the panchayat, assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Along with writing on development issues, governance and public policy has done crime reporting, including Maoist activities in Bihar as well as activities of gangsters in East Uttar Pradesh, Jungle Party gang active on UP- Bihar border, dacoit gangs in Bundelkhand region and Sand Mafia active in various districts of UP. Has done investigations and reporting exposing multi-crore NRHM scam in UP, Nutrition scam, Medicine supply scam, irregularities in the flood management projects, weapon smuggling and human trafficking on Indo- Nepal border. He highlighted the deaths of children due to encephalitis in the districts of East Uttar Pradesh; the central and state government took cognisance of the report to launch schemes to check deaths and improve the facilities in the health centres and hospitals. He also reported on the social issues in East Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand- migration, farming crisis, water crisis, plight of the deprived communities- Musahar, Vantongiyas, Sahariya and Kol communities. He covers state government departments. He also travels to write human-interest stories and in-depth stories from the ground in the Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Rohilkhand regions of Uttar Pradesh.

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