The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on Tuesday after a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, with 12.55 crore voters retained out of 15.44 crore listed earlier, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said on Tuesday.
The remaining 18.70 per cent, or about 2.89 crore voters, could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said while addressing a press conference here.
Rinwa said the Election Commission had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.
While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing that the names of a large number of voters, nearly 2.97 crore, were getting excluded from the draft list. Consequently, the enumeration phase was extended till December 26.
According to the CEO, out of 15,44,30,092 voters in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12,55,56,025 voters, accounting for 81.30 per cent of the electorate.
Rinwa said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date of the draft roll, but parallel fieldwork and ECI instructions to rationalise polling stations led to a delay.
"The Commission has capped voters per polling station at 1,200 instead of the earlier norm of 1,500. To meet this requirement, around 15,030 new polling stations were created across the state," he said, adding that approval for the exercise was received on December 23, and it took about a week for the data to be migrated to servers.
As a result, six more days were sought, and the draft roll was published on January 6.
Giving details about the removal of 2.89 crore names from the draft list, Rinwa said 46.23 lakh voters (2.99 per cent) were found to be deceased, while 2.57 crore voters (14.06 per cent) had either permanently migrated or were not available during the verification process.
Another 25.47 lakh voters (1.65 per cent) were found to be registered at more than one place.
"The draft electoral roll now contains 12.55 crore voters and covers all 75 districts and 403 assembly constituencies of the state," he said.
The exercise involved 1,72,486 booths, with booth-level officers working alongside volunteers to reach voters. Rinwa also acknowledged the support of political parties, saying 5,76,611 booth-level agents appointed by recognised parties assisted in the process.
The CEO said a one-month claims and objections period would begin on January 6 and continue till February 6, during which voters can seek inclusion, correction or raise objections to the draft roll.