Manipur final electoral roll records 1.96 million voters after revision

The final photo electoral rolls, 2026 has recorded a total of 19,60,620 voters with 9,53,350 male, 10,06,962 female and 308 third gender

The photo electoral roll of the 60 assembly constituencies of Manipur were published on Sunday, with the state recording 19,60,620 total voters amid the growing sensitive demand for updated National Register of Citizen (NRC) before Census exercise.

The final roll shows a net increase of 26,221 electors over the draft roll published on July 5, 2026, which had 19,34,399 electors. (HT Photo/Representational)

According to a press note issued by chief electoral officer, Manipur (CEO), the final photo electoral roll of the 60-assembly constituency of Manipur was published in compliance of the instruction of the Election Commission of India.

The final photo electoral rolls, 2026 has recorded a total of 19,60,620 voters with 9,53,350 male, 10,06,962 female and 308 third gender with elector population (EP) ratio of 51.99 and gender ratio of 1056.

The final roll shows a net increase of 26,221 electors over the draft roll published on July 5, 2026, which had 19,34,399 electors. During the revision process, 56,871 electors were added while 30,650 were deleted from the draft electoral roll.

The centre has deferred Census exercise of Manipur following several demands of civil bodies of different communities that the NRC updated before the Census. The deferment of Census exercise decision was followed a high-level meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah.

Following the Centre’s decision Ministry of Home Affairs on September 5, 2026 has issued a gazette notification for deferment of Census exercise in Manipur in.

The notification signed by registrar general of India and Census commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan said that “In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 and section 17A of the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948) read with rules 6A and 6D of the Census Rules, 1990, the Central Government hereby defers the houselisting operations for Census 2027 for the State of Manipur and for that purpose, hereby makes the following amendment in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs number S.O. 99(E), dated the 7th January, 2026 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii), dated the 7th January, 2026.”

The notification further said that “after the words ‘in all States and Union territories in India’, the words and brackets ‘(except the State of Manipur till further declaration)’ shall be inserted.”

The ongoing 8th session of 12th Manipur legislative assembly on September 2 also unanimously reaffirmed its earlier resolution of August 5, 2022 and March 1, 2024, urging the Centre to update NRC in Manipur before conducting Census exercise.

The issue of NRC update in Manipur has brought all political parties irrespective of ruling and opposition, civil bodies of several communities under a same demand. However, Kuki-Zo civil bodies have refrain from NRC update with base year 1951 as the Kuki communities accept to conduct Census exercise periodically.

“Census is a periodic exercise conducted by the government, and there is nothing inherently objectionable about it. However, when it comes to the NRC in Manipur, the use of 1951 as the base year raises serious concerns and creates a cloud of uncertainty,” Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), a Kuki Zo apex body spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said.

The electoral roll revision itself involved an extensive verification exercise. Of the 20,93,076 electors recorded before the draft publication, enumeration forms were received for 19,34,399 electors, while 1,58,677 forms were not received back. These cases were categorised as absent, shifted, deceased, duplicate and others.

The Election Commission’s exercise also involved verification of 91,178 unmapped electors and 11,30,655 electors with logical discrepancies. A total of 12,21,833 notices were issued during the verification phase. Following hearings and examination of documents, 26,362 electors from the draft roll were marked ineligible.

Besides a total number of 20,819 service electors were also enrolled in the final electoral rolls.