Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav has demanded that electoral rolls be linked with Aadhaar cards and that biometric verification devices be made compulsory at every polling booth to address alleged large-scale irregularities in Uttar Pradesh’s voter lists.
Speaking at the Samajwadi Party headquarters in Lucknow during a meeting with party leaders and new entrants, Yadav accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting “vote fixing” through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He said such practices could weaken democracy, undermine the Constitution and reduce public confidence in institutions.
Yadav said Aadhaar linkage should not be optional and that every voter should be covered. He argued that biometric reading devices were affordable and that technology could help identify and correct problems in the electoral rolls.
The SP chief claimed that the party’s scrutiny had found cases in which the same individuals appeared multiple times across districts and polling booths. He cited an example involving a voter identified as Sunita, wife of Rajesh, aged 42, whose details allegedly appeared in 420 entries. A search for the same name across Uttar Pradesh, he said, produced 2,341 entries.
He also alleged that 1,627 entries were linked to a person named Rajkumar and that several registrations had been found for others, including Vikas Yadav. Yadav referred to cases from Pilibhit involving Nandlal Nishad and said more than 100 forms had been filled in the name of a person identified as Dashrath in the Sarojini Nagar Assembly constituency in Lucknow.
“If this is not done, it raises questions about the intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP,” Yadav alleged, while arguing that voters needed to be properly identified and electoral rolls accurately maintained.
He said the Election Commission, as a constitutional body, was responsible for ensuring that no eligible vote was excluded, no incorrect entry was included and no voter was registered twice, thrice or multiple times.
Yadav further alleged that the poll body began taking action only after opposition parties raised the issue collectively, but maintained that additional measures were required. He connected the delay in panchayat elections with alleged attempts to hide discrepancies, saying gram pradhan elections would make it more difficult to conceal irregularities because local representatives were familiar with voters in their areas.
The SP president said his party would continue examining electoral rolls and bringing alleged discrepancies before the Election Commission. He also alleged that fake Aadhaar cards could potentially be used to cast votes, though he did not provide further details.
Statewide reverification ordered
Following complaints about irregularities, particularly in Pilibhit and Azamgarh, the Election Commission on Sunday, October 25, ordered a statewide reverification of all names added, deleted or amended in Uttar Pradesh’s electoral rolls through Forms 6, 7 and 8 after the Special Intensive Revision ended on April 10.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa directed that computer assistants should not enter any further electoral roll data. Under the instructions, physical forms will be digitised only by booth-level officers through the BLO app.
Rinwa warned that electoral registration officers, assistant electoral registration officers and computer staff could face action under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, if irregularities were detected.
Divisional commissioners have been assigned as roll observers to oversee the exercise across all 403 Assembly constituencies. They have also been directed to remove duplicate entries and prepare an error-free draft list ahead of the Special Summary Revision.
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