SP urges EC to extend SIR process in UP by three months

Lucknow, Nov 22 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party has urged the Election Commission to extend the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Uttar Pradesh by three months, alleging large-scale irregularities in the distribution of forms and updation of voter lists across several constituencies.

As per a press statement, in a memorandum submitted to the chief electoral officer, SP state president Shyam Lal Pal has stated that the party's national president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said that despite the presence of 1,62,486 polling stations across 403 Assembly segments, "counting forms are not reaching all 15.44 crore voters," leaving insufficient time for citizens to fill and submit the required documents.

SIR is currently underway in UP since the start of November and is expected to end in early February.

The state president alleged that the BLOs (booth level officers) in the 70-Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency and various Assembly segments of Mau district "are not going door-to-door to distribute and collect the forms," adding that some officials lack the forms altogether and are instead "pressuring voters to submit applications online." The party also claimed that in the 271-Rudhauli Assembly constituency, voter lists from 2003 have not been uploaded at over a dozen polling stations, preventing voters from submitting their forms correctly. According to the SP, in such cases, BLOs are filling only the first column of the forms, which may lead to voters receiving notices from the ERO after December 9, 2025.

Further alleged irregularities were highlighted in Lucknow's East Assembly constituency, where, according to the party, polling stations 130 and 131 have the same voter list uploaded, while nearly 1,100 voters are reportedly missing from one of the stations.

The SP demanded that the EC immediately extend the SIR process by three months to ensure that all voters can complete and submit their forms. It also called for strict instructions to BLOs in Mau and Ghosi to distribute and collect forms through door-to-door visits, upload missing 2003 voter lists in Rudhauli, rectify alleged discrepancies at polling stations in Lucknow, and locate the missing voters.

The memorandum was submitted by SP representatives KK Srivastava, Dr Harishchandra Singh and Radhey Shyam Singh, who urged the authorities to take prompt action.

Earlier in the day, Yadav, while speaking to mediapersons at party headquarters, alleged that the BJP government, "in collusion with the Election Commission," was preparing to delete more than 50,000 voters from each Assembly constituency where the SP and the INDIA bloc performed strongly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Yadav claimed that "major preparations" were underway in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal during the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls. "The BJP government and the Election Commission are preparing to delete over 50,000 voters in each Assembly constituency using SIR as a pretext," he alleged.

He further said the SIR exercise should not be held during the wedding season and demanded more time for the voter roll cleanup. "We expected impartiality from the poll panel, but its role in the recent bypolls raised concerns," Yadav said, urging that a clear SOP be issued for all political parties regarding SIR. PTI CDN MNK MNK