Yogi Adityanath Claims Deletion of 1.27 Crore Hindu Voters in UP Electoral Roll Revision
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has alleged that approximately 1.27 crore Hindu voters have been left off the state's electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, while stating that the number of Muslim voters enrolled has increased. The claims come amid an ongoing controversy surrounding the voter list revision in the poll-bound state.
While opposition parties nationally have accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of facilitating vote theft through the SIR exercise and requested the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the debate within Uttar Pradesh has centered on allegations of disproportionate voter deletions. Addressing a media event in Ayodhya, Chief Minister Yogi challenged Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to demand the withdrawal of the SIR exercise.
Breakdown of Deletions and Electoral Figures
According to Yogi, the number of Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh rose by 1.63 percent, while 1.27 crore Hindu voters were dropped from the Assembly rolls. He broke down the figures by stating that 66 lakh of the omitted voters were enrolled in the state's panchayat electoral rolls but absent from the Assembly voter list, and 55 lakh were beneficiaries of government welfare schemes. Additionally, he claimed about 4.5 lakh voters in the 18-19 age group were missing from the updated lists.
Defending the necessity of the SIR exercise, the Chief Minister noted that the revision was meant to clear deceased voters from the rolls, estimating that roughly 46 lakh deceased individuals remained listed prior to the update. However, he stated that eligible voters were not properly added back following those removals. He confirmed that a memorandum had been submitted to the Election Commission demanding the removal of Bangladeshi infiltrators and the inclusion of omitted Hindu voters.
Opposition Response and Data Verification Questions
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav questioned the source of the religious data cited by the Chief Minister. Speaking to reporters, Yadav asked how Yogi had obtained a religion-wise breakdown of additions and deletions when no such figures had been released by the Election Commission.
On social media platform X, Yadav suggested structural changes to the voting process, recommending that Aadhaar be linked with voting and that tamper-proof metal voter ID cards replace paper or plastic cards. He also advocated for biometric identification using fingerprints or iris scans to prevent fraudulent voting.
Data Trends and Previous Concerns
Concerns over voter exclusions during the SIR exercise were previously raised by Yogi in December last year during an address to party workers in Lucknow. At the time, he estimated that roughly 65 percent of Uttar Pradesh's 25 crore population—around 16 crore citizens—should be eligible to vote, whereas the SIR process had covered approximately 12 crore voters at that stage.
Data from the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer shows that the state's total registered voters stood at 15.44 crore when electoral rolls were frozen on October 27, 2025. Following the conclusion of the SIR exercise in March, the total figure decreased to 13.39 crore, reflecting an overall reduction of around 2.05 crore voters. District-level data indicates that deletions were relatively higher in Bharatiya Janata Party strongholds such as Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, and Agra, compared to lower deletion rates recorded in minority-dominated districts including Rampur, Moradabad, Sambhal, and Saharanpur.
