Prayagraj: More than five months after Uttar Pradesh’s special intensive revision (SIR) exercise began, the state’s chief electoral officer on April 10 released final figures showing a net addition of over 84 lakh voters.

The revision, however, has been marked by political sparring and concerns over transparency, even as officials maintain that all deletions followed due process. 

On April 10, 2026, while addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwatold reporters, “The first phase began on November 4, 2025 and was referred to as the enumeration phase. Every voter was issued an enumeration form, and this phase concluded on December 26, 2025.”

Uttar Pradesh was among 12 states and Union Territories where the second phase of the SIR was announced last year by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid political backlash over a similar exercise carried out in Bihar.

“There are a few errors. We are receiving some complaints as well, and we are still going through the list,” Abbas Haider, spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, told The Wire when asked for an initial response to the revised electoral roll.

Responding to the Samajwadi Party’s allegations, UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla told The Wire, “Revision of the voter list is an ongoing process being undertaken by the Election Commission as a mission. Only the names of those who had shifted, are no longer alive, or had duplicate entries have been removed.”

“The questions being raised by the opposition make it clear that Akhilesh Yadav does not trust the valid voters of Uttar Pradesh. Whenever fair and fearless elections are conducted, the Samajwadi Party is likely to suffer losses, which is why they are worried,” Shukla added.

Concerns over transparency were raised during the UP SIR after videos of BLOs (booth level officers) and BLAs (booth level agents) surfaced, alleging that pre-filled Form 7s had been handed over in bulk for deletion in districts such as Siddharthnagar and........

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