Uttar Pradesh SIR draft rolls delayed again with 18% deletions feared

Uttar Pradesh is set to be the state with the highest deletions.

• UP draft electoral roll publication postponed to January 6
• Nearly 2.89 crore voters may be deleted in UP due to ongoing revision
• Final voter list for UP to be published on March 6

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The Election Commission has postponed publication of the Uttar Pradesh draft roll from Wednesday to January 6, according to a report by Indian Express.

The provisional data suggested that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls could lead to the deletion of nearly 2.89 crore electors or 18.70% of the electorate from the rolls.

The exercise started in 12 states/Union Territories on October 27. However, this is the third change in the SIR schedule in Uttar Pradesh. The first one was on November 30, when the EC extended the enumeration phase for all 12 states/UTs by one week from December 4 to December 11. On December 11, the EC extended the enumeration deadline further for six states/UT, including UP which was given the longest extension of all states (two weeks).

According to the IE report, the deletions are likely to be on account of the electors being marked deceased, shifted/absent or enrolled at multiple places, among others. No party has flagged anything irregular in the high deletions.

According to the draft rolls of states published earlier this month, Uttar Pradesh is set to be the state with the highest deletions, with Tamil Nadu (15%) and Gujarat (14.5%) coming in second and third.

UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa told IE that publication of the draft roll has been postponed because of the creation of 15,030 new polling booths during the rationalisation exercise.

According to Rinwa,  names of voters will be shifted to new booths, part numbers will be allocated, BLOs will be appointed and the electoral roll will be published also at these new booths on January 6.

Claims and objections will be received from January 6 to February 6. Issuance of notices and disposal of claims and objections will be done and decisions on the enumeration forms (EFs) will be done by authorities from January 6 to February 27 and the final publication of the voter list will be on March 6, according to IE.

On December 23, the EC approved the proposal for rationalisation of booths on the basis of 1,200 voters per booth. Earlier, polling booths in UP totalled 1.62 lakh.