Lucknow: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh has triggered a major political controversy, with opposition parties alleging large-scale irregularities and demanding corrective measures.
Both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have asked the Election Commission to extend the revision period, claiming that the process is being carried out without proper training for Booth Level Officers and that many BLOs are being pressured to tick mandatory submission columns without proper verification.
The Samajwadi Party has alleged a conspiracy to delete 50,000 names from voter lists in constituencies where its supporters are in larger numbers. The party says its PDA Praharis are reporting widespread discrepancies from the ground. SP leaders claim the SIR process is being misused to target areas with high concentrations of Muslim, Dalit and OBC voters.
The Congress has raised similar concerns, while the BSP says its workers are receiving complaints about forms not reaching homes. BSP leaders say their teams are coordinating with BLOs to resolve problems.
The BJP has deployed a large network of workers to assist voters with the SIR process and says many people are struggling to understand the forms. Party workers are using dummy forms to guide residents.
Election Commission data shows the BJP has appointed the highest number of Booth Level Agents during the revision exercise. Of the over 3.85 lakh agents appointed by all political parties, the BJP has named 1.56 lakh, followed by the Samajwadi Party with 1.12 lakh, the BSP with 1. 69 lakh and the Congress with 65,538. Smaller parties, including SBSP, RLD, Nishad Party and Apna Dal, have submitted lists of BLAs for limited regions.
The Election Commission has received the highest number of complaints from the Samajwadi Party. SP’s PDA Praharis have been documenting problems in rural and urban areas and submitting reports to the party headquarters, which forwards them to the Chief Electoral Officer.
SP workers have started awareness campaigns in villages and are helping residents fill out forms. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has instructed workers to monitor every booth and report irregularities. In Kasganj, SP spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi shared a video alleging that even after people have submitted their forms, BLOs are marking them under Category C, indicating that their data does not match the 2003 voter list.
Akhilesh Yadav has accused the BJP of misusing the SIR process. He claims BLOs in Muzaffarnagar and other constituencies are not following guidelines, which is affecting SP supporters. The party has submitted a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer seeking immediate instructions for BLOs in six constituencies to distribute forms properly.
BSP state president Vishwanath Pal said the party has trained its own BLO representatives and they are assisting the public. He said there are no complaints from BSP workers, though several grievances have been raised about official BLOs.
Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said all complaints are being examined and addressed. He said all officials involved in the SIR process have received training and more than two crore enumeration forms have already been digitised since the revision exercise began on November 4.
