In a massive electoral exercise, the Election Commission of India has completed hearings for 3.26 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh under its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign, claiming that action has been taken on 100% of notices issued during the process.

The final electoral roll is set to be published on April 10 and is expected to include over 13.25 crore voters, a sharp rise from the previous list of around 12.55 crore names. During the revision drive, officials flagged over one crore entries due to mismatches with the 2003 voter list, while more than two crore names were found to have logical discrepancies.

To make the process more accessible, authorities conducted hearings near voters’ residences, ensuring convenience during document verification. Booth Level Officers carried out door-to-door verification in approximately 2.22 crore cases, making it one of the largest voter verification drives in the state.

The campaign also witnessed significant activity in terms of additions and deletions. Around 86.69 lakh applications were received for adding new voters, while 3.18 lakh requests were filed for deletion. Officials estimate that more than 97% of existing names are likely to remain on the final list.

The Chief Electoral Officer has assured that no voter’s name will be removed without due process and proper hearing, emphasising that the entire exercise has been conducted transparently. The main aim of the SIR campaign is to ensure a clean and accurate voter list by removing duplicate, deceased, shifted, or ineligible entries while adding eligible citizens.

However, the exercise has sparked political controversy, with opposition parties alleging that the process could be misused to remove names of their supporters. With the final list set to be released soon, the outcome is expected to be closely watched and could trigger fresh political debates.