The Samajwadi Party (SP) has launched a sharp attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, accusing it of manipulating the process of revising the state's electoral rolls to gain an unfair advantage. The party has raised serious questions about the basis of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's prediction that 4 crore voter names would be deleted, a claim made a full fortnight before the Election Commission of India (ECI) concluded the exercise and announced the official figures.
Allegations of Systematic Manipulation
On Wednesday, SP's chief spokesperson, Rajendra Chaudhary, alleged that the BJP government had interfered in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process to tailor the electoral rolls according to its own "whims and fancies." He stated that the SP has submitted numerous formal complaints to the ECI, highlighting the blatant deletion of names belonging to traditional SP voters. According to Chaudhary, no action has been taken on these memorandums.
"There have been anomalies in the SIR process which deprived voters of their rights," Chaudhary asserted. He further claimed that the ruling party ensured its supporters remained on the list, and that the extension of time granted for the SIR was part of this larger ploy to skew the voter database.
The 'Nexus' and the 4 Crore Figure
In a move to bolster the allegations of collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, former SP MLC Udaiveer Singh highlighted the timing of the Chief Minister's statement. Singh questioned how Adityanath could accurately predict that 4 crore names would be deleted when 15 days were still left for the SIR process to conclude.
"As many as 2.9 crore names have been deleted. Notices are being sent to another 1.1 lakh people whose names too can potentially be deleted by the ECI in the final list. This brings the total to 4 crore voters," Udaiveer Singh explained. He pointed out that this total figure became public knowledge only on January 5, when the ECI released the official statistics, which matched the CM's earlier prediction. "This explains the nexus," he alleged.
Focus on High-Margin BJP Constituencies
Udaiveer Singh also drew attention to the pattern of deletions, claiming that constituencies where the maximum number of names were removed include many where the BJP had previously won elections with heavy margins. "This bulk deletion of invalid voters in these constituencies now explains the BJP's victory margins," he claimed, suggesting the revision legitimized past results by removing opposition-leaning voters.
Singh has been closely involved with the party's strategy of deploying PDA Prahris to act as Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and assist voters from the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) communities in completing SIR formalities, indicating the party's focus on grassroots mobilization amidst the controversy.
The allegations have added a new layer of political tension in Uttar Pradesh, with the principal opposition party directly challenging the integrity of a fundamental democratic process—the preparation of the voter list. The SP's claims put the spotlight on the Election Commission's role and the neutrality of the electoral revision exercise ahead of future polls.
