Make SIR data public, stop pressure on BLOs, says Akhilesh; UP CEO cites 99.89 pc progress

Lucknow, Dec 5 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government make public the progress of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and ensure that booth level officers are not subjected to "life-threatening pressure".

He also urged the Election Commission (EC) and the administration to deploy "additional authorised personnel" so that booth level officers (BLOs) are not "overburdened".

The state election official, responding to Yadav's X post, stated that 99.89 per cent of form distribution has been completed, while 91.63 per cent of digitisation work was done so far in the exercise.

In a post on X in Hindi, Yadav sought immediate publication of the percentage of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) work completed in the state and said transparency in the electoral roll revision was "non-negotiable".

It must be ensured, he added, that "those in power and their associates are not involved in this exercise from the back door, now or ever".

Yadav further alleged that attempts were being made to delete the names of people belonging to PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) communities in various assembly constituencies.

The central lawmaker from Kannauj also demanded a thorough probe into these complaints and asked the government to prevent any such move "at all costs".

Responding to Yadav's post, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Friday said on X that 99.89 per cent of form distribution under SIR and 91.63 per cent of the digitisation work had been completed across the state, adding that the commission was issuing a daily bulletin on the progress.

The CEO said additional personnel had been deployed to assist BLOs, calling SIR "a work of national importance" for which cooperation had also been sought from the public and recognised political parties.

He further said a request to appoint booth level agents (BLAs) at each polling booth was made to all recognised political parties. So far, the BJP, SP, Congress, BSP, AAP, CPI(M) and Apna Dal (S) had appointed their BLAs, he added.

The CEO stated that the deadline for the enumeration phase of SIR is December 11, and voters who submit their filled-in forms to BLOs by then will have their names included in the draft electoral roll to be published on December 16.

Uttar Pradesh has recently witnessed multiple cases of suicides and deaths of BLOs and other officials involved in SIR, allegedly linked to overwork, stress, and harassment.

On November 30, the EC extended the schedule for the ongoing SIR exercise in nine states and three Union territories by a week amid complaints from opposition parties that "tight timelines" were causing difficulties for people and ground-level poll staff.

The SIR, announced on October 27, covers nearly 51 crore electors across 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 for panchayat polls in 2026 and assembly elections in 2027. PTI KIS NB PRK PRK