The Election Commission has once again postponed the release of the draft electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh, extending the timeline by a week and announcing a revised schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The draft voter list, which was earlier scheduled for publication on December 31, will now be released on January 6, 2026, with January 1, 2026, serving as the qualifying date for inclusion in the rolls.
As per the updated schedule, the window for submitting claims and objections has been fixed from January 6 to February 6, 2026. The SIR process in Uttar Pradesh has already witnessed multiple delays. The original deadline for enumeration was December 4, but it has since been extended twice due to various administrative reasons.
The Election Commission, which is conducting the Special Intensive Revision across 12 states and Union Territories, said that the notice period, scrutiny of enumeration forms, and the disposal of claims and objections will take place between January 6 and February 27. The poll body has also directed all officials involved in the process to strictly adhere to the revised timeline to avoid further delays.
According to the Commission, the final electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh will be published on March 6, 2026. Officials have been instructed to complete all procedural formalities within the stipulated time frame to ensure the smooth completion of the revision exercise.
Meanwhile, data shared by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer indicates that nearly 2.89 crore names—around 18.7 per cent of the total electorate in Uttar Pradesh—are likely to be removed from the draft voter list. These deletions are attributed to factors such as the death of voters, permanent migration, multiple registrations, or individuals being untraceable during verification.
Officials noted that a large proportion of these deletions pertain to major urban centres, including Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj and Kanpur, where population mobility and migration rates are relatively high.
