Lucknow: State chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa on Sunday said that while the final voter list published on Jan 6 recorded 12.55 crore registered voters, over 3.5 crore eligible citizens in the state still remain outside the electoral rolls due to lack of awareness and proactive registration. During the 16th National Voters’ Day programme, he noted that UP is so large that only about five countries in the world have a bigger population or a larger voter base than the state. Because of this scale, the coordination required for electoral roll management is “unprecedented.”
He said the latest revision removed a large number of entries owing to deaths, duplication within and across polling stations, and names of people who had permanently shifted residence years ago. More than 2.88 crore such entries were cleaned from past lists. Although the claims and objections period began on Jan 6, Rinwa stressed that the real challenge now is to add eligible citizens who remain outside the voter list. Based on demographic estimates, Uttar Pradesh should have around 16 crore voters, but barely 12.5 crore are currently enrolled. This means 3.5 crore eligible citizens above 18 years of age are still missing from the rolls because they have not filled Form-6. “Voter enrolment in India is voluntary, not automatic,” he reminded. As per the SIR draft released on Jan 6, the total voter count stands at 12,55,56,025. However, 2.22 crore voters mapped themselves incorrectly with the 2003 SIR list, and 1.04 crore could not be mapped at all. The Election Commission is issuing notices to 3.26 crore voters to submit documents to verify their eligibility. The CEO underlined that women and youth, in particular, have low enrolment. Rinwa praised booth level officers (BLOs) for their fieldwork during special campaign days on Jan 11 and Jan 18, when more than seven lakh forms were submitted in a single day. However, he emphasised that even this pace is insufficient, noting that ideally five lakh new forms are needed every day to bridge the gap. He urged citizens to verify their names on the CEO Uttar Pradesh website, the Voter Helpline App (ECI-NET), through EPIC search, or via the 1950 helpline. Another special drive will be held on January 31, and he appealed to all voters to use these opportunities before the rolls are frozen ahead of elections.
