The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has rejected a media report which alleges the addition of 16.18 lakh voters to the state’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), saying the figure refers to Form-6 applications collected during the enumeration exercise and does not mean that 16.18 lakh voters were automatically added to the rolls.
In a detailed clarification posted on X, the CEO said the report was based on “faulty assumptions” and that the SIR was conducted with “utmost transparency” and in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Election Commission of India (ECI) instructions.
The clarification came in response to a report titled “The Mysterious 16.18 Lakh Voters Added to Uttar Pradesh’s Roll”, which questioned the collection and subsequent processing of 16.18 lakh Form-6 applications during the SIR.
The CEO said the 16.18 lakh figure represented Form-6 applications collected before publication of the draft electoral roll on January 6, 2026. The forms were collected by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) during house-to-house visits as part of the enumeration phase, which ran from October 27, 2025, to January 6, 2026.
“The allegations levelled in the report are not correct as these are based on faulty assumptions and are therefore categorically denied,” the CEO said.
According to the CEO, the ECI’s instructions for the SIR required Form-6 applications to be distributed to and collected from eligible people whose names did not figure in the electoral roll as it existed on October 27, 2025, when the revision began.
The CEO also rejected the suggestion that the names of people who submitted these forms were not made public. It said only Form-6 applications received after publication of the draft electoral roll on January 6 were required to be included in the list of claims, or Form-9, during the claims and objections period.
The list was displayed on the CEO’s website during the claims and objections period, the statement said, adding that there was “no violation of any provision of the law or rules or instructions of ECI”.
The CEO also dismissed the suggestion that Form-6 applications were being accepted according to a predetermined percentage.
“Regarding the percentage of acceptance of Form-6, the report is based on arbitrary assumptions without any logical reason,” the CEO said. “There is no formula or logic for the acceptance of forms to adhere to a particular percentage.”
Applications, it said, were accepted only after the due process prescribed under the rules was followed.
The CEO further said the SIR was conducted with the participation of political parties and remained open to scrutiny.
“It is again reiterated that the SIR in UP was conducted as per law, was transparent, participatory and conducted with active involvement of all the political parties,” the statement said.
The CEO added that no political party or individual had so far raised similar allegations in connection with the SIR conducted in Uttar Pradesh.