UP SIR Row: Congress Seeks Impartial Probe Into Voter List Errors, Demands CEC’s Exit

The Congress has demanded an immediate halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and an impartial inquiry into alleged voter list irregularities in Uttar Pradesh, while calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

The demands follow reports of errors in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council voter list, including entries that appeared as Hindi sentences. The Congress has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of favouring the BJP and alleged that the ruling party had won previous elections through collusion with the poll body, as PTI reported.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, accused the ECI of conducting a “fake SIR process” to benefit the BJP. He also demanded the publication of complete machine-readable voter data.

“Our clear demand is that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign immediately, and an immediate halt be imposed on this fake SIR process being run with the intent of benefiting the BJP,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

He called for an impartial investigation into the voter list and safeguards to protect the voting rights of every eligible citizen.

Congress Questions Election Commission

Ramesh alleged that the voter list errors could not simply be attributed to software and questioned the ECI’s accountability.

Citing entries such as “Ram Ne Yadav Ko Mara”, “Murkh Chandra Yadav” and “B. Com”, he asked whether the integrity of electoral rolls had been left to software and ECINET, the Election Commission’s digital platform.

“The responsibility lies with the Election Commission, not the software,” he told PTI.

Ramesh also argued that the errors had reinforced the Opposition’s concerns about the conduct of the SIR exercise, whose stated objective is to revise electoral rolls. He alleged that the BJP had colluded with the Election Commission to influence the outcomes of previous elections, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and other states.

These allegations were made by the Congress and were not independently established in the material cited.

Pilibhit Voter Details Under Scrutiny

Ramesh also referred to an alleged case in Pilibhit, where he claimed that the details of 10,470 voters had been changed using Form 8 without supporting records.

Form 8 allows registered voters to seek corrections to details such as their names and addresses.

According to Ramesh, most of the affected voters belonged to a particular community that he alleged had been consistently targeted by the BJP. He claimed that such changes raised concerns about whether voters could be deprived of their rights during polling.

He also cited complaints about names missing from electoral rolls issued after the SIR exercise and incorrect details appearing when online Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers were searched.

Opposition Seeks Voter Data

The Congress has also demanded that the ECI release the machine-readable voter data sought by the party and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

Ramesh said access to the complete data was necessary to assess the extent of alleged irregularities and establish accountability. He also called for an impartial inquiry into whether prescribed procedures for issuing notices and conducting hearings were followed when names were added to or removed from electoral rolls.

The party has been opposing the SIR exercise and seeking its suspension. Earlier this month, Congress and other INDIA bloc members held protests, met President Droupadi Murmu and petitioned the Chief Justice of India against the exercise and the Chief Election Commissioner, seeking his removal.

The Congress has reiterated its demands for an independent inquiry, the publication of complete voter data and measures to protect the voting rights of eligible citizens.