Barabanki MP says Uttar Pradesh SIRs show rural voters exceed total number of voters in State; SC asks Election Commission to explain

The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 15, 2026) asked the Election Commission of India to look into a one-page note submitted by Barabanki MP Tanuj Punia, claiming that rural voters in Uttar Pradesh far exceed the Special Intensive Revision’s (SIR) voter count for the entire State.

Appearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, senior advocate Salman Khurshid and advocate Shariq Ahmed pointed out the disparity in voter numbers following two separate SIRs, one held by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the other by the State Election Commission, in Uttar Pradesh.

“The Election Commission of India carried out a SIR of the UP Assembly electoral rolls for the entire State. At the same time, the State Election Commission carried out an SIR of Panchayat (rural) voter rolls. After the Assembly SIR, the total number of voters in UP is shown as 12.56 crore, reflecting a reduction of about 2.89 crore voters. After the Panchayat SIR, the number of rural voters alone is shown as 12.69 crore, reflecting an increase of about 40 lakh voters. These two figures cannot co-exist. Rural voters cannot exceed the total voters of the State,” the note pointed out.

Mr. Khurshid argued that the anomaly impacted the very credibility of the SIR process, and had a direct bearing on the right to vote and free and fair elections.

“The Election Commission must clarify which SIR is correct, and on what basis, since both cannot be right,” he submitted.

In a separate hearing, the Bench asked the ECI to consider extending the deadline for the filing of objections by those excluded in the draft electoral roll in Kerala.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which leads the LDF government in Kerala, said nearly 24 lakh people were excluded from the draft roll.

Mr. Kumar said the list of deleted names and details were not publicly accessible. He said people need to check the list to see if they had been excluded in order to file objections. The court ordered the EC to publish, if not already done, the list in panchayat and other local public offices besides uploading it on its website.