Deletion & Density: On ECI Removal Of 2.8cr Names In UP SIR
ECI’s Revision and a Startling Number
The new draft voter list in Uttar Pradesh has been released, and one figure stands out sharply. Nearly 2.89 crore names have been removed. Of these, over 46 lakh voters are shown as deceased. The Election Commission of India (ECI) describes this as a correction exercise. Outside official explanations, it feels more unsettling than routine.
No one disputes the need to clean electoral rolls. Some records do decay over time. But when deletions run into crores, the exercise stops being purely technical. The scale itself demands scrutiny. What is meant to improve accuracy should not end up weakening confidence.
Uttar Pradesh After the 2024 Shock
Context matters. Uttar Pradesh emerged as the biggest surprise of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP faced unexpected setbacks in what was once its most reliable state. In that political backdrop, the removal of 2.89 crore names cannot be seen in isolation. Even a neutral administrative process begins to look sensitive when public trust is already fragile.
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Exhausting Repetition
The concern is not abstract. A Congress leader publicly stated that his name, along with those of his family members, was missing from the draft list despite valid documents and a voting history. Similar experiences have quietly surfaced among ordinary voters. These are not rare glitches when they start repeating across regions.
For migrants, the elderly and those on the margins, repeatedly proving eligibility becomes a burden rather than a right.
For a revision of this scale, the ECI must clearly disclose how deletions were categorised, where district-wise numbers spiked, and why living voters were flagged. Verification drives should reach voters before names are struck off, not after.
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