Nearly 6.5 crore electors removed from draft rolls of 9 States, 3 UTs in SIR 2.0

The names of 6.5 crore electors were removed from the draft electoral rolls of nine States and three Union Territories (UTs) published in the past days as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Before phase two SIR, which commenced on October 27, 2025, the nine States and three UTs had 50.9 crore electors.

After the separate draft rolls were published, the number of electors dwindled to 44.4 crore.

ECI officials said the names of those removed from the draft rolls have been put in the ‘ASD’ or Absent, Shifted and Dead/Duplicate category.

The ECI officials had earlier cited available trends to say that the collection of enumeration forms has been “much less” in urban areas compared to rural areas of the States and UTs covered in the SIR exercise.

Descent into farce: On the Election Commission of India, the SIR

The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh, published on Tuesday (January 6) after the SIR exercise, excluded 2.89 crore voters and retained 12.55 crore.

The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.7%, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said at a press conference.

Phase two of the SIR began in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal on November 4, 2025.

In Assam, a separate ‘special revision’ of electoral rolls is in progress.

The last SIR in States will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the ECI for intensive revision.

Most States had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.

The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various States on ‘illegal migrants’, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.