Akhilesh Yadav demands UP government release SIR progress and protect BLOs from pressure.
He alleges attempts to remove names of PDA community members and calls for investigation.
The Election Commission extended the SIR schedule amid concerns over overworked officials.
Akhilesh Yadav Demands Transparency In UP SIR, Flags BLO Overwork
Samajwadi Party chief calls for publication of SIR progress and warns against life-threatening pressure on Booth Level Officers ahead of upcoming elections
Summary
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday called for the Uttar Pradesh government to make public the progress of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and warned against putting Booth Level Officers (BLOs) under "life-threatening pressure", reported PTI.
In a post on X in Hindi, Yadav also urged the Election Commission and the administration to deploy "additional authorised personnel" to ensure BLOs are not "overburdened". He demanded that the percentage of SIR work completed in the state be made public immediately.
Stressing the importance of electoral transparency, the former chief minister said it was "non-negotiable" that "those in power and their associates are not involved in this exercise from the backdoor, now or ever", PTI reported.
Yadav further alleged that efforts were underway to remove names of people from the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) communities across several assembly constituencies. He demanded a thorough investigation into such complaints and said the government must prevent any such action "at all costs".
The warning comes amid reports of multiple suicides and deaths among BLOs and other officials involved in the SIR in Uttar Pradesh, reportedly linked to overwork, stress and harassment. According to PTI, these incidents have heightened concerns over the safety and working conditions of officials tasked with the voter-list revision.
On November 30, the Election Commission extended the SIR schedule in nine states and three Union territories by a week, citing complaints from opposition parties that "tight timelines" were creating difficulties for both the public and ground-level officials. The SIR was originally announced on October 27, covering nearly 51 crore electors.
The states and Union territories included in the exercise are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to hold panchayat polls in 2026 and state assembly elections in 2027, making the SIR a critical step ahead of the polls.
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(With inputs from PTI)
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