Uttarakhand voter count falls by over 8 lakh after SIR

Dehradun: The final electoral roll for Uttarakhand, following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), lists approximately 71.58 lakh voters -- nearly 8 lakh lower than the count at the start of the SIR process.

The Congress, which is the main opposition party, however, has claimed that the state’s voter count declined by nearly 14 lakh, citing a figure of 85.19 lakh electors as of January 1, 2025. According to Congress leader and former MLA Manoj Rawat, the number of voters stood at 85.19 lakh before the revision process and has now come down to 71.58 lakh.

The office of Uttarakhand’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said the electoral roll had 79.6 lakh voters when the SIR began on June 8. Following the distribution and compilation of enumeration forms, the draft roll published on July 14 contained approximately 71.33 lakh voters. The Election Commission provided voters time from July 14 to August 13 to file claims and objections.

These were processed between August 13 and September 28, following which the final electoral roll was published on October 3 with 71.58 lakh voters. The final roll is 8.01 lakh voters lower than the electoral roll at the start of the SIR. The final electoral roll comprises 3,737,701 male voters, 3,421,036 female voters, and 212 third-gender voters. It includes 72,656 voters in the 18-19 age group and 1,22,892 voters aged over 80.

During the claims and objections process, 1,29,872 eligible voters were added to the roll, while 1,04,708 names were removed. The SIR was conducted on the basis of July 1, 2026, as the qualifying date.

The CEO office said individuals who could not be included in the final electoral roll for any reason may still apply, either online via the ECI-Net app by filling out Form 6 or offline through their Booth Level Officer (BLO). Special camps will be organised for this purpose, and BLOs have been instructed to conduct door-to-door visits to gather information, it said. BLOs will also compare the current electoral roll with the pre-SIR list to identify voters whose names appeared in the earlier roll but are missing from the current one.

They will visit the homes of such voters to ascertain their current status and, if found eligible, assist them in filling out Form 6 to include their names in the electoral roll. They will also help first-time voters and other eligible young voters who have been left out. A list of such voters will be shared with the booth-level agents and representatives of recognised political parties, giving eligible voters another opportunity to get their names included in the roll.

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