The number of voters in Uttar Pradesh increased by 8.43 million between the draft constitution in January and the final figures released on Friday, the highest among the 13 states and union territories where the Special Intensive Review (SIR) concluded.
India’s most populous state completed the controversial process with a 13.2% deletion, second only to Gujarat, which saw a 13.4% deletion. The total number of voters in the state was 133.98 million, 20.45 million less than on October 27, when the rolls were frozen for SIR.
The controversial operation spanned over 157 days and an unprecedented four extensions, marking the longest time SIR has taken to complete in the region. In contrast, West Bengal got one extension, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu got two extensions each.
Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in early 2027.
“In the entire intensive special review, no deletion was made without following the prescribed due process. No removal from the voters’ list was done without proper procedure. If any name present in the draft electoral roll published on January 6, 2026 was not present in the final electoral roll, it was removed after submission of Form 7 or after notice and hearing process, based on the decision of the Voter Registration Office,” Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Renua said.
The draft list, published on January 6, came on the heels of the first phase of SIR where all voters who were not found to be absent, transferred, dead or duplicate were included in the rolls. The final list saw an expansion of 6.7%, the highest among all the 13 states and UTs where the SIR was concluded. Additions between the draft and final list explain why net deletions in Uttar Pradesh fell from 18.7% at the draft stage (highest among all states) to 13.2% in the final list (second highest after Gujarat). During the first phase of SIR, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed concern that many of the deletions were BJP voters.
Urban centers continue to lead in net deletions. The districts that witnessed the highest net deletions are Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar and Meerut, where the post-SIR voter list was 22.9%, 20.2%, 19.4%, 19.3% and 18.7% lower, respectively, compared to the pre-SIR list. All of these regions were among the top five even at the draft stage except for Gautam Buddha Nagar, who was ranked seventh at that stage. Balrampur, the rural district which was ranked third in the draft stage, has moved to 11th position.
The districts that witnessed the lowest percentage of deletions were Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Pilibhit, Mahoba and Banda, where lists shrank by 6.7%, 6.9%, 8%, 8.5% and 8.9%, respectively. Pilibhit moved from sixth on the draft list in terms of cuts to third, and Amroha moved from fifth to seventh.
District-level deletion data did not show an association with the share of the Muslim population in the district. Uttar Pradesh has certainly not witnessed a contentious and protracted arbitration process like West Bengal.
At the level of Assembly constituencies (ACs), the highest deletions were recorded in Lucknow Cantt, Allahabad North, Lucknow East, Lucknow North, and Agra Cantt, where the electoral list shrunk by 34.2%, 34.0%, 31.0%, 31.0%, and 30.5%, respectively. The seats that witnessed the lowest percentage of deletion were Meharuni, Barkhera, Kondarki, Tandoori and Sirsaganj, where the contraction amounted to 4.2%, 4.7%, 4.9%, 5% and 5.1%, respectively.
The SIR also saw more female voters removed than men. In the draft list, the names of 15.5 million voters were deleted, compared to 13.4 million men, resulting in the sex ratio falling from 877 (in the pre-SIR voter list) to 824. In the final electoral list, the sex ratio rose to 834. The CEO said that 815,000 voters were deleted in the final list of whom 350,000 did not respond to ECI notices, and 328,000 were permanent voters. Mobile/Absentees, 79,076 duplicate voters, 55,865 deceased voters, and 2,269 voters who are not Indian citizens or are found underage.
In absolute terms, the districts with the highest deletion rates were Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, and Ghaziabad – 914,185, 826,885, 687,201, 637,653, and 574,478, respectively. The districts with the lowest percentage of deletions in absolute terms were Hamirpur, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot and Shirawasti, where the number of deletions was only 57,742; 58702; 63811; 70,750; 100,396 were deleted respectively.
The seats that witnessed the highest percentage of deletions in absolute terms were Sahibabad, Noida, Lucknow North, Agra Cant and Allahabad North, at 316,484; 183887; 154,710; 147,182; 145,810 were deleted respectively. The seats that witnessed the lowest percentage of deletions were Barkhira, Tandoori, Sirsaganj, Kondarki, and Meharuni, with a number of 15,803; 16,358; 16696; 19,146; 19,454 were deleted in a row.
Renoir said that the final voter list includes 133,984,792 voters, including 73,071,061 (54.54%) men, 60,909,525 (45.46%) women, and 4,206 (0.01%) voters of the third gender. He said there were 1,763,360 (1.32%) first-time voters in the 18-19 age group. Renoa said the exercise was carried out with the participation of 75 District Election Officers (DEOs), 403 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 12,758 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 18,026 Booth Level Supervisors (BLOs) and 1,77,516 Electoral Officers (BLOs). In addition, he said 582,877 booth-level agents of recognized political parties and millions of voters showed their cooperation, adding that print, electronic and digital media also played a major role in the awareness efforts.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday alleged irregularities in the SIR, accusing the BJP of “hiding behind institutions” when faced with electoral challenges. “Looking at the voter list that has come out now, one can assume that when the BJP starts losing on issues, it fights elections by hiding behind institutions,” Yadav said.
The state Congress termed the SIR “illegal” with UP Congress president Ajay Rai saying it constituted a “betrayal of democracy and violation of universal voting rights”.
