Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has claimed that approximately 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from the state’s draft electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), while dismissing Opposition allegations of irregularities in the exercise as “propaganda”.
Speaking at the AajTak Panchayat event during a conversation with Aaj Tak Senior Managing Editor Sweta Singh, Adityanath accused Opposition parties of questioning electoral processes whenever they face defeat, alleging that they routinely blame Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or voter list revisions.
Targeting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief Minister questioned why he was demanding accountability over the SIR exercise but had not called for its withdrawal.
“Why does Akhilesh Yadav not demand that SIR be rolled back? It’s because the number of Muslim voters in UP rolls has increased by 1.65%, whereas the names of approximately 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing,” Adityanath said.
The Chief Minister said the state government had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI), highlighting discrepancies between the voter lists prepared for panchayat elections and those compiled following the SIR exercise.
He maintained that the government was seeking the inclusion of all eligible voters whose names had been omitted, while supporting the removal of deceased voters and alleged foreign infiltrators from the electoral rolls.
Adityanath claimed that the missing names included beneficiaries of government welfare schemes and young voters in the 18-19 age group. He said approximately 46 lakh deceased voters should be removed, but eligible citizens must not be deprived of their voting rights.
Rejecting allegations of state government interference, he said the Election Commission was an independent constitutional authority responsible for conducting the revision exercise.
The controversy comes ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, with the SIR exercise triggering a political confrontation between the ruling BJP and Opposition parties.
According to Election Commission data cited in the report, more than 2.04 crore names were deleted from Uttar Pradesh’s electoral rolls following the revision, while over 84 lakh new voters were added. The state’s final electorate stood at 13,39,84,792.
The deletions were largely concentrated in urban areas, with women accounting for a higher proportion of those removed. Opposition parties have questioned the exercise, alleging that legitimate voters could be disenfranchised.
