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 Fatehpur.The exercise was also mired in controversy following reports of suicides by BLOs, who were allegedly under significant work pressure, in districts such as Moradabad and Sitapur.In his 29-minute press conference, Rinwa also acknowledged the “18,026 BLO supervisors and 1,77,516 BLOs whose hard work and dedication helped complete the process.” Notably, he did not address the controversies surrounding the exercise.Here are five takeaways from the final SIR list in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 assembly elections:Additions The draft electoral roll published on January 6, 2026, had 12,55,56,025 (around 12 crore) voters. The final list, released on April 10, 2026, records 13,39,84,792 (around 13 crore) valid voters — an increase of 84,28,767 (around 84 lakh).Weeks before the draft roll was scheduled to be published in December 2025, a video surfaced showing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath asking party workers “to focus on SIR” and “closely monitor every booth”. According to a report in The Indian Express, after the draft roll was published, BJP workers were “given a target of adding 200 voters per booth” during the claims and objections phase.“When someone becomes a voter, no one can say which party they will vote for. Ensuring that the voter list is streamlined and that all legitimate voters are included is a moral responsibility shared by political parties along with the Election Commission. It is in that spirit that the BJP participated in the SIR process,” said UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla while speaking to this reporter.As per the press note released by the office of UP CEO, five districts which witnessed maximum number of additions in electoral list include: Prayagraj (3,29,421), Lucknow (2,85,961), Bareilly (2,57,920), Ghaziabad (2,43,666) and Jaunpur (2,37,590).Deletions“No deletion has taken place in the SIR without due process,” UP CEO Navdeep Rinwa told reporters.When the draft electoral roll was released in January 2026, the number of proposed deletions stood at 2.89 crore (18.70% of the electorate). This included voters listed under the ASD (Absent, Shifted, Duplicate or Deceased) category.On April 10, the final SIR data stated that notices had been issued to 1.04 crore ‘unmapped’ voters and 2.22 crore voters flagged for ‘logical discrepancies’. These individuals were given an opportunity to submit relevant documents during the claims and objections phase and have their names included by filing Form 6.Voters marked under ‘logical discrepancy’ included those with unusual age gaps between parents and children. The ‘unmapped’ category referred to voters whose parents or grandparents were listed in the 2003 electoral roll — used as the baseline for the SIR — but whose own names were missing from the revised list.“Between January 6, 2026 and April 10, 2026, the number of deletions across categories stood at 8,15,996,” Rinwa said. Women votersWith reports suggesting a decline in the number of women voters after the draft electoral roll was released in January, the final list appears to allay such concerns.The final roll records an increase of 42,00,778 women voters, with the gender ratio improving from 824 in the draft list to 834 in the final list.Opposition parties, including the Congress, had also raised concerns over whether the UP SIR was a “hurried” exercise, even as the deadline for publication of the final rolls was extended for the fourth time in February this year.Speaking to The Wire, Sanjay Sonkar, BJP Mahamantri in Varanasi and district-level SIR in-charge, said, “No one is stopping an eligible individual from becoming a voter as long as they have one of the 13 valid documents required for this purpose. The Election Commission has also not stopped any political party from participating in the process.”Option to appealThe press note issued by the UP CEO states that if a person is dissatisfied with the final decision of an electoral registration officer (ERO), they can file a first appeal before the district magistrate within 15 days.This provision is available under Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. A second appeal can be filed before the chief electoral officer within 30 days if the person is not satisfied with the district magistrate’s decision.“Even after the final publication, Forms 6, 7 and 8 can be submitted to ensure that one’s name is included in the electoral roll. There is no need to worry, as the voter list will continue to be updated,” UP CEO Navdeep Rinwa said.BJP leader Sanjay Sonkar, party mahamantri in Varanasi, also echoed this view, describing regular updation as a corrective mechanism. “The work done by the Election Commission is commendable. Earlier, the electoral roll was updated annually, but now it will be updated every four months, and the list will be shared with registered political parties,” Sonkar told The Wire. DiscrepanciesHave all discrepancies been resolved, and is the final electoral roll — which will form the basis of the 2027 UP assembly polls — error-free?Not entirely. Speaking to The Wire, a lawyer associated with a civil society group that has been assisting Muslims in filing SIR forms said, “While it is too early to comment on overall discrepancies, initial trends in the Lucknow and Prayagraj regions suggest that errors related to duplication of entries have not been fixed in some cases.”Samajwadi Party national president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, in a memorandum to the UP CEO, has sought the release of an SOP for filing appeals in both online and offline modes.Flagging errors in the final electoral roll, the memorandum cites polling booth number 389 in the Allahabad South assembly constituency, where the father’s name of a voter, Shalini Singh, has been printed in Bengali.“Similarly, at booth number 102 in the Ghazipur assembly constituency, voter Satyendra Yadav (son of Harihar Yadav) has been listed at serial numbers 1047 and 1056,” the memorandum notes, pointing to duplicate entries in the final electoral roll.