E-Paper
SIR begins in UP after 22 years; opposition fears mass deletions
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) schedule, between October 28 and November 3, the election returning officers (EROs) will print pre-filled enumeration forms (in duplicate) for all existing electors and hand them over to the booth-level officers (BLOs). EROs will also train BLOs on procedures related to the revision exercise.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh began on Tuesday, marking the first such exercise in 22 years. Earlier, this exercise was conducted in UP in 2003.
UP chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa held a virtual meeting with district electoral officers and other senior officials to brief them on the SIR process.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) schedule, between October 28 and November 3, the election returning officers (EROs) will print pre-filled enumeration forms (in duplicate) for all existing electors and hand them over to the booth-level officers (BLOs). EROs will also train BLOs on procedures related to the revision exercise.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties -- Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party -- expressed apprehension that the SIR exercise could lead to deletion of genuine voters from electoral rolls to benefit the ruling BJP ahead of the 2027 UP assembly elections.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav said his party would deploy senior workers as “SIR PDA Praharis” across all 403 assembly constituencies to ensure that voters from the backward, Dalit, and minority (PDA) communities were not excluded.
In a post on X, Yadav said: “Ensuring everyone gets their right to vote. Saving democracy by becoming the guardian of every vote.”
Congress state president Ajay Rai said they would oppose SIR in UP, as they did in Bihar. “There were irregularities, there was arbitrariness there... The Election Commission has become a puppet of the BJP... All these things are being done by them only to benefit the BJP...,” he said.
BSP state president Vishwanath Pal said party chief Mayawati would speak over their stand on SIR in a meeting of leaders and office-bearers on Wednesday.
However, welcoming the SIR, deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said, “The decision taken by the Election Commission of India is commendable and only those people should have their names in the voter list who are eligible. Those who are foreign citizens and have become voters for some reason, their identification needs to be done. This is a commendable step.”
According to the Election Commission data, there are approximately 15.44 crore registered voters in Uttar Pradesh. The details of all voters will be verified, duplicate entries, deceased persons, and those who have migrated will be removed from the electoral rolls. The wrongful inclusion of foreigners will also be addressed during the SIR.
The 1.62 lakh BLOs appointed by the Election Commission, 1.93 lakh booth-level agents representing the political parties, 2,445 EROs/assistant EROs and 75 district election officers will carry out mapping of the electoral roll of 2003 with that of 2025. The SIR will be conducted simultaneously at 1,62,486 booths in UP.
