Uttarakhand's final voter roll drops by 8 lakh after SIR; Congress disputes cut

Uttarakhand's final roll, released on Saturday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, lists about 71.58 lakh voters, around 8 lakh fewer than the count at the start of the exercise, according to the Chief Electoral Officer's office.

The Congress, the main opposition party in the state, has disputed the drop as being much bigger. Congress leader and former MLA Manoj Rawat said the number of voters stood at 85.19 lakh before the revision process and has now come down to 71.58 lakh, a decline of nearly 14 lakh.

The Chief Electoral Officer's office said the electoral roll had 79.6 lakh voters when the SIR began on June 8. After enumeration forms were distributed and compiled, the draft roll published on July 14 contained about 71.33 lakh voters.

Voters were then given time from July 14 to August 13 to file claims and objections. These were processed between August 13 and September 28, after which the final electoral roll was published on October 3 with 71.58 lakh voters.

According to the official figures, the final roll is 8.01 lakh voters lower than the electoral roll at the start of the revision. The final electoral roll comprises 37,37,701 male voters, 34,21,036 female voters and 212 third-gender voters.

It also includes 72,656 voters in the 18-19 age group and 1,22,892 voters aged above 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's office said people who could not be included in the final roll for any reason can still apply online through the ECI-Net app by filling Form 6, or offline through their Booth Level Officer (BLO).

It said special camps will be organised for this purpose, and BLOs have been told to carry out door-to-door visits to collect information. They will also compare the current electoral roll with the pre-revision list to identify voters whose names were in the earlier roll but are missing from the current one.

The officers will visit the homes of such voters to verify their status and, if they are found eligible, help them fill Form 6 to include their names in the electoral roll.

They will also assist first-time voters and other eligible young voters who have been left out. A list of such voters will be shared with booth-level agents and representatives of recognised political parties, giving eligible voters another chance to get their names added to the roll.