UP SIR row: Akhilesh Yadav accuses EC of deleting PDA votes, favouring Centre

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday (January 10), accused the Election Commission of facilitating the addition of voters in favour of the Centre by removing voters belonging to the "PDA" (Picchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) from the electoral rolls under the guise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

‘3 lakh voters deleted in one district’

Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, Yadav questioned the credibility of the Election Commission, alleging that nearly 3 lakh voters have been deleted from a single district in the state.

Also Read: UP SIR: Smriti Irani's name included in Amethi voter list

"So far 3 lakh votes have been removed in one district, and more votes will still be removed. This raises serious questions about the credibility of the Election Commission,” said Yadav.

“After the exercise by the State Election Commission and the Government of India, it appears that some conspiracy is underway to remove PDA votes and add their own votes," he added as quoted by ANI.

Questions CM Adityanath

Yadav also apparently questioned how Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that 4 crore voters who support the BJP would be removed from the list even before the draft list was published in the state.

Also Read: UP SIR draft electoral roll: 2.89 crore voters deleted, highest in India

"However, now the draft roll has been released, and there was an apprehension that nearly 3 crore (30 million) voters would be deleted. We feared that 3 crore would be removed, but even before the list came out, when no one had any information, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said that 4 crore voters are going to be removed, and those voters belong to the BJP," said Yadav.

"SIR exercise was conducted in Uttar Pradesh, in which officials from several departments were involved. The SIR was carried out on a large scale in UP, and no political party opposed it; everyone prepared their BLA," he added.

2.89 crore voters deleted: UP CEO

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa (CEO) had announced that a total of 2.89 crore voters were deleted from the draft list.

"The number of enumeration forms we received was approximately 12 crore, 55 lakh. This means that this many people returned the forms signed, indicating that their names should be included in the draft list,” said Rinwa.

Also Read: Why BJP says UP voter list deletions could hit it harder in 2027 poll

“There were 46.23 lakh such deceased voters. There are 2.17 crore voters who have migrated, those who have shifted from their place of residence, who have left the house where they were residing when they registered their name in the voter list, and have permanently moved, or are missing or absent, or could not be found by the BLOs in the field,” he added.

The CEO further stated that there were 25.47 lakh voters whose names were registered in more than one place on the voter list adding in total, 2.89 crore names were not included in the draft voter list.