There are 16.3 crore adults (18+ years) in Uttar Pradesh. This is not just an estimate on paper. These are real people whose biometrics, photographs and addresses are registered in the Aadhaar database. (UIDAI, ‘Aadhaar saturation report’, 2026)

Some of these 16.3 crore may have died, may be living abroad or are foreign citizens. But these are a tiny fraction of the total, according to UIDAI. So, roughly 16 crore adults in UP are entitled to vote.

Yet only 13.4 crore people in UP are on the electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after its Special Intensive Revision (SIR). That is, nearly 3 crore adults (18 per cent) are missing from the electoral rolls.

Aadhaar is a live database of real people, most of whom use their Aadhaar to collect MGNREGA wages, operate bank accounts, buy rations and so on. It is also biometrically de-duplicated, so no one person can be registered twice under different names, photographs or addresses.…