In Uttar Pradesh’s draft voter list, published after the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, 50 assembly constituencies recorded more than one lakh voter deletions each. All but three of these constituencies were won by the BJP in the 2022 UP assembly elections. These include high-profile seats the BJP won – Ayodhya, Varanasi North, Varanasi Cantonment and Lucknow Cantonment.

While Varanasi North and Varanasi Cantonment are assembly constituencies that fall under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, Lucknow Cantonment is currently represented by Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak. The Samajwadi Party won the remaining three seats. 

Among the 12 states and Union Territories that have undergone a SIR, UP has reported the largest number of deletions. About 2.8 crore voters, or 18.5 percent of the electorate, have been struck off the rolls, reducing the total number of voters in the state from 15.4 crore in October 2025 to 12.5 crore.

The assembly constituency with the highest number of deletions is Lucknow North, where over 1.9 lakh voters were deleted, followed by Sarojini Nagar (1.8 lakh), Agra Cantt (1.8 lakh), Allahabad North (1.7 lakh), and Noida (1.75 lakh). Together, the five assembly constituencies within Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency recorded deletions of nearly 4.33 lakh voters.

Breaking the numbers down

On January 6, the state's chief electoral officer published a list of deleted electors on its website, including their gender, age, and the stated reason for deletion. Newslaundry accessed these lists of 1.77 lakh booths and found that 1.26 crore deletions were due to migration, 84.4 lakh voters were absent, 45.2 lakh voters were dead, and nearly 24.9 lakh voters were duplicates.

The deletions have rung alarm bells in the BJP. A senior state BJP leader told The Indian Express that the party has set a target to add 200 voters per booth, bringing the total to 3.5 crore voters across the state. An overall trend now shows that higher deletion rates are mostly concentrated in BJP-controlled seats.

Across the 403 assembly constituencies, seats won by the BJP-led NDA in the 2022 elections saw higher average deletions than those won by the INDIA bloc. The average deletion in 273 NDA seats was 73,470 voters, whereas in INDIA bloc it was 61,903 voters across 128 seats. Of the 50 seats with deletions over 1 lakh voters, only nine were won by the BJP with thin margins – less than 2 percent of the vote share.

Gender disparity in voter deletions 

Newslaundry's analysis also reveals that more women voters were deleted from the voter rolls in UP than men. In total, 1.5 crore women voters were struck off the rolls, compared to 1.3 crore men. As many as 1,755 third-gender voters were also deleted.

The ECI deleted voters on four grounds: migration, absenteeism, death, and duplication. More women voters were deleted than men on the grounds of migration and absenteeism. On the other hand, more men were deleted due to death and duplication. Migration could account for higher deletion rates among women due to relocation after marriage.

In the 18-24 and 60+ age categories, more women voters were deleted than men. 

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