Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday demanded that electoral rolls be linked with Aadhaar cards and biometric verification facilities be mandatory at every polling booth to curb alleged large-scale irregularities in Uttar Pradesh’s voter lists.
Addressing party leaders and new joinees at the SP headquarters , Yadav alleged that the BJP was engaging in “vote fixing” through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He warned that such practices would weaken democracy, undermine the Constitution, and erode public trust in institutions.
“Voter lists should be linked with Aadhaar, and biometric reading instruments should be made available at the booth level. It should not be optional and everyone should be added. These devices are not very expensive and technology can help rectify irregularities,” Yadav stated.
He claimed that the party’s investigations had uncovered multiple entries of the same individuals across different districts and booths.
Citing specific examples, he said a voter identified as Sunita, wife of Rajesh, aged 42, had 420 entries under the details examined, while searches using the same name across Uttar Pradesh yielded 2,341 entries. Similarly, he alleged 1,627 entries for a person named Rajkumar and multiple registrations for others, including Vikas Yadav. He also referred to cases from Pilibhit involving Nandlal Nishad and over 100 forms filled in the name of a person identified as Dashrath in the Sarojini Nagar assembly constituency in Lucknow.
“If this (linking with Aadhaar) is not done, it raises questions about the intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP. They do not want the voter lists and voters to be properly identified,” he alleged.
{{/usCountry}}“If this (linking with Aadhaar) is not done, it raises questions about the intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP. They do not want the voter lists and voters to be properly identified,” he alleged.
{{/usCountry}}“The Election Commission is a constitutional body, and its responsibility is to ensure that no vote is left out, no incorrect entry is made and no voter is registered twice, thrice or multiple times,” he said.
He further claimed that the poll body started taking action only after opposition parties raised the issue collectively, but insisted much more needed to be done. Yadav also linked the delay in holding panchayat elections to alleged attempts to conceal discrepancies, arguing that gram pradhan elections would make it harder to hide irregularities since local representatives know the voters in their areas.
The SP chief said his party would continue scrutinising electoral rolls and bringing alleged discrepancies to the notice of the Election Commission. He further alleged the possible use of fake Aadhaar cards to cast votes, though he did not elaborate on the charge.
In response to complaints of irregularities in electoral rolls, particularly in districts such as 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 voter lists through Forms 6, 7 and 8 that computer assistants entered after the Special Intensive Revision ended on April 10.
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa directed that computer assistants be barred from feeding any further electoral roll data. Physical forms are to be digitised only by booth-level officers through the BLO app. He warned that electoral registration officers, assistant officers and computer staff would face action under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, if anomalies were found. Divisional commissioners were designated as roll observers to supervise the process across all 403 assembly constituencies, with instructions to remove duplicate entries and ensure an error-free draft list ahead of the Special Summary Revision.