EC revises Uttar Pradesh SIR schedule; to publish draft list on January 6

Lucknow: The Election Commission has revised the schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, with the draft voter list now slated to be published on January 6, 2026, and the final list on March 6, the state's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the new schedule, claims and objections will be invited from January 6 to February 6, he said.

Rinwa said the notice stage, disposal of claims and objections, and decisions on enumeration forms will continue from January 6 to February 27, after which the final electoral roll will be published on March 6.

The revision of the schedule comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, where a large-scale pruning of voter list has been carried out.

The nearly 52-day SIR exercise, conducted with the theme 'Shuddh Nirvachak Namavali, Majboot Loktantra' (Clean Electoral Roll, Strong Democracy), began on November 4 and concluded on December 26 after two extensions.

According to official figures, the draft electoral roll is expected to contain around 12.55 crore voters, with about 2.89 crore names deleted from the pre-SIR list for reasons such as death, change of residence or duplication due to enrolment elsewhere.

Those excluded will be able to contest the deletion during the claims and objections period.

Rinwa said voters whose names have been deleted can reapply using Form 6, which will also be available for new voters, while objections to the inclusion of names in the draft roll can be filed through Form 7.

He had earlier told PTI that more than one crore voters in the draft list fall under the "unmapped" category and will be required to submit self-attested documents prescribed by the Election Commission to retain their names in the final roll.

The SIR exercise and the deletion of names have triggered a political controversy in Uttar Pradesh, with opposition parties alleging bias, a charge rejected by the ruling BJP.