Lucknow: Election Commission has approved a one-month extension of the deadline for filing claims and objections against the Uttar Pradesh draft electoral roll published on Jan 6 this year as part of phase-2 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ list exercise. The final electoral rolls of the state will now be published on April 10 instead of March 6. The revised schedule comes amid a surge in claims, objections and correction requests filed during the month-long window that began after the draft electoral roll was published on January 6. Clarifying the timelines, Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa stressed that the two extended dates serve different purposes. While March 6 is the new deadline for filing claims and objections, March 27 is the last date for completing decisions on notices issued for mapping-related discrepancies. Both processes, he said, will culminate in the publication of the final updated voter roll on April 10. The CEO said that a total of 3.26 crore electors fall into these categories of ‘no mapping’ or ‘logical discrepancy’. So far, notices have been generated for 2.37 crore voters, of which 86.27 lakh have already been served. Hearings have been completed for 30.3 lakh cases. Rinwa said the deadline for final disposal of these cases—originally Feb 27—has now been extended to March 27, giving electoral registration officers more time to collect documents, conduct hearings and pass orders. The enumeration phase of the SIR began on Nov 4, 2025, following which the draft electoral roll was released on January 6. Under the original programme, the claims and objections period—during which eligible voters could apply for inclusion of their names through Form 6, seek deletion or objection through Form 7, or request corrections via Form 8—was scheduled to end on February 6. However, after a meeting with recognised national and state political parties on January 27, the Election Commission of India approved an extension. Rinwa announced that the claims and objections window has now been extended by one full month, shifting the deadline from Feb 6 to March 6. During this extended period, any eligible citizen may still submit Form 6 for new inclusion, Form 7 for objections or deletion, and Form 8 for corrections or updates. Providing figures for the ongoing revision, Rinwa said that between Jan 6 and Feb 4, the state received 37,80,414 Form 6 applications for adding new names to the voter list. In addition, 82,684 Form 7 applications were submitted for objections or deletions, while 1,073 Form 6A applications came from overseas electors. He added that the inflow of Form 6 applications has been rising steadily, with Feb 5 recording the highest single-day intake—3,51,745 forms. So far, the state has received 9,50,498 Form 8 applications, used for a range of updates including corrections in name, age, gender, address, relationship details, photographs, changes due to relocation, recording disability status for poll-day assistance, and seeking replacement voter ID cards. Separately, Rinwa announced an extension for another major component of the SIR: the notice-and-hearing process related to electors whose names appear in the draft roll but whose linkage—known as ‘mapping’—with the final 2003 electoral roll is either missing or contains logical discrepancies. These discrepancies include mismatched parental details, incorrect serial linkages or statistically improbable age gaps between electors and their mapped family members. To assist citizens during this extended period, booth level officers (BLOs) will remain available at polling stations on all working days between 10 am and 12 noon. BLOs will carry the draft electoral roll, the list of unmapped voters, the list of voters with discrepancies, and the ASDDR list—comprising electors marked absent, shifted, dead, duplicate or refused to sign during the enumeration phase. Voters can also check their details online through the CEO Uttar Pradesh website and the Election Commission of India’s voter services portals. Rinwa urged women, youth and first-time voters in particular, to review their entries and ensure timely application, emphasizing that no eligible voter’s name will be removed without due notice and a proper hearing.
