‘Urdu-speaking’ assembly seats in UP record lower voter deletions

LUCKNOW: As many as 46 Assembly constituencies of UP, identified by the Election Commission as ‘Urdu Speaking’, have recorded a lower percentage of voter deletions and a slightly higher rate of additions. Most of these constituencies have a significant presence of Muslim voters.The Election Commission data shows that these constituencies registered an average voter deletion rate of 12.7%, which is below the state average of 13.24%. In absolute terms, these 46 constituencies accounted for 26.33 lakh deletions. The total deletions across Uttar Pradesh stood at 2.04 crore.These constituencies also recorded higher voter additions during the revision period following Jan 6, 2026.Over the next three months of claims, objections, hearings and verification, the average addition rate in these 46 constituencies was 6.91%, slightly above the state average of 6.71%.In numbers, these constituencies added 11.79 lakh voters, contributing to the statewide addition of 84.28 lakh voters.As of April 10, Uttar Pradesh has a total electorate of 13.39 crore.Chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa explained that in areas where more than 20% of the population speaks a second language, voter-related data is published in two languages alongside the local vernacular.In these 46 constituencies, electoral data was issued in both Hindi and Urdu. These constituencies were identified following the 2008 delimitation exercise.The data showed that maximum deletion among the 46 ACs was reported in Lucknow Central, which was 1.07 lakh, accounting for 28.88%. It was followed by Meerut Cantt (1.21 lakh; 27.79%), Meerut South (1.18 lakh; 23.19%), Bareilly (1.17 lakh; 25.1%), Shahjahanpur (1.06 lakh; 24.32%), Bareilly Cantt (99,379; 25.95%), Bahraich (90,508; 21.87%), Lucknow West (87,467; 18.6%), Aligarh (86,650; 21.81%) and Arya Nagar (77,096; 25.8%).The maximum voter addition was recorded in Lucknow West (54,822; 16.71%), Bareilly (47,550; 15.67%), Firozabad (47,757; 14.46%), Saharanpur Nagar (42,336; 12.27%), Khalilabad (37,427; 10.12%), Meerut South (36,455; 10.26%), Mau (35,595; 9.44%) and Bareilly Cantt (34,966; 14.07%).