Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh has levelled serious allegations of mass voter deletion in Uttar Pradesh, claiming it is a deliberate move to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Speaking on Wednesday, Singh stated that Booth Level Officers were pressured to remove names of specific communities from the electoral rolls.
Discrepancy in Voter Data Raises Alarm
Singh pointed to a major inconsistency in official numbers. He cited the State Election Commission's data from December, prepared for the upcoming panchayat polls, which lists 12.7 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh. However, he contrasted this with the SIR data which shows only 12.55 crore voters. "How did UP's urban voters go missing?" he questioned, demanding an explanation for the gap.
The MP alleged that names of over 2.9 crore voters were intentionally removed from the state's voter list. He described this not as routine electoral reform, but as a "planned conspiracy" designed to disenfranchise the poor, backward classes, Dalits, minorities, Yadavs, Muslims, and the working class.
Questionable Categories Used for Deletion
Singh detailed the categories under which votes were allegedly purged. According to him, the Election Commission used arbitrary classifications: 25 lakh voters were listed as registered in two places, over 2 crore were marked as 'shifted' or 'untraceable', 45-46 lakh were shown as dead, and 84 lakh were deleted for allegedly not being found at home during verification.
He specifically targeted the 'shifted' category, linking it to India's migrant workforce. "Lakhs of people shown in the 'shifted' category went to work in other states. If they are not voters there and their names were struck off in UP too, where did their voting rights go?" Singh asked, raising a critical question about the democratic rights of crores of migrant labourers.
AAP's Response and Criticism of EC Process
In response to the alleged purge, the AAP announced concrete action. "AAP members will now help people whose names were wrongly deleted. We will get their names registered again and bring such cases before the public," Singh declared. The party has already appointed about 6,000 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and plans to appoint more to assist affected citizens.
Singh also criticised the Election Commission's re-registration process, calling it excessively burdensome. He claimed the EC is demanding 13 types of documents to get names added within a month, a requirement he said is nearly impossible for an illiterate labourer to meet. He further argued that the EC lacks the authority to conduct such a comprehensive and disruptive revision of the voter list.
The allegations set the stage for a major political confrontation over the integrity of the electoral roll in India's most populous state, with the AAP positioning itself as a champion for those it claims have been unjustly disenfranchised.
