UP’s Voter List Revision Sparks Political Uproar as Parties Allege Irregularities, Targeting of Supporter Bases

Lucknow: A political storm has engulfed Uttar Pradesh amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with major opposition parties accusing the administration of serious irregularities and demanding immediate corrective action.

Both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress have urged the Election Commission to extend the revision deadline, alleging that the process is being conducted without adequate training for Booth Level Officers (BLOs). According to them, many BLOs are being pressured to tick mandatory submission columns without proper verification, leading to widespread errors.

The Samajwadi Party has levelled some of the most serious accusations, claiming a deliberate attempt to delete nearly 50,000 names from voter lists in constituencies where its support base is dominant. The party’s PDA Praharis have reportedly documented large-scale discrepancies across rural and urban pockets, alleging that the SIR process is being misused to target Muslim, Dalit, and OBC voters.

The Congress, too, has echoed concerns over mismanagement. Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) says many voters are complaining that SIR forms are not reaching their homes. BSP leaders claim their local teams are coordinating with BLOs to resolve issues wherever possible.

In contrast, the BJP has launched a massive mobilisation to assist people with the verification exercise. The party says that many residents find the SIR forms confusing, prompting BJP workers to use dummy forms to guide voters effectively.

Data from the Election Commission shows that the BJP has appointed the highest number of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) among all parties during the ongoing revision — 1.56 lakh out of 3.85 lakh BLAs. The Samajwadi Party follows with 1.12 lakh, the BSP with 1.69 lakh, and the Congress with 65,538. Smaller regional parties like SBSP, RLD, Nishad Party and Apna Dal have deployed BLAs in select pockets.

The Election Commission says it has received the most complaints from the Samajwadi Party. SP’s PDA Praharis have been sending consolidated reports to the party headquarters, which then forwards them to the Chief Electoral Officer. In several villages, SP workers have begun awareness campaigns and are helping locals fill out forms to avoid wrongful omissions.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has accused the BJP of “misusing the SIR process”, alleging that BLOs in districts like Muzaffarnagar are ignoring guidelines, resulting in difficulties for SP voters. The party has submitted a complaint demanding strict instructions for BLOs across six constituencies to ensure proper form distribution.

In Kasganj, SP spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi posted a video claiming that BLOs are marking residents under Category C — a label assigned when data supposedly doesn’t match the 2003 voter list — even after citizens submitted complete forms.

On the other hand, BSP state president Vishwanath Pal stated that the party has trained its own BLO representatives and is proactively assisting the public. He added that while there are no internal complaints from BSP workers, several grievances involve the performance of official BLOs.

Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa, responding to the rising controversy, asserted that all complaints are being reviewed carefully. He emphasised that training has been provided to all officials involved in the SIR process and revealed that over two crore enumeration forms have already been digitised since the revision began on November 4.