Akhilesh Yadav Alleges 'Vote Theft' In UP Electoral Roll Revision

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged manipulation in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Uttar Pradesh electoral roll due to pressure from the ruling BJP, describing it as a case of "vote theft".

The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on January 6, with 12.55 crore voters included and 2.89 crore names deleted, according to official data.

In a statement issued here, Yadav said the Election Commission (EC) carried out the SIR of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly voter list while the State Election Commission simultaneously conducted a similar exercise for panchayat elections.

In both cases, the work was undertaken by the same booth-level officers, he said.

"Surprisingly, after the assembly SIR, the total number of voters in the state dropped by 2.89 crore to 12.56 crore. On the other hand, after the panchayat SIR, the number of rural voters increased by 40 lakh to 12.69 crore," he added.

Questioning the EC, the SP chief said, "Tell us which of the two SIRs is correct, because both sets of figures cannot be right at the same time." He claimed that under pressure from the BJP, the authorities failed to maintain the "equation" of vote manipulation, thereby exposing the entire exercise.

"They forgot to balance the equation of vote theft and the truth has now been exposed," he said.

According to officials, the 2.89 crore voters — accounting for 18.70 per cent of the 15.44 crore voters listed earlier — were excluded from the draft electoral roll due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations.

The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on March 6.