UP panchayat polls: Opposition says over 1 crore voters will be deleted
Uttar Pradesh will hold its three-tier panchayat elections next year, often considered a semi-final before the Assembly polls. Opposition parties are raising concerns over the possible deletion of names from the rolls
Is the storm over Bihar’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls about to reach Uttar Pradesh? Will the revision of electoral rolls ahead of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls heat the state’s political climate?
Opposition parties claim that more than 1 crore names are set to be struck off the voter list. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh have already questioned the intent of the BJP and the Election Commission (EC).
Also read: Dead voters, scanned affidavits: UP CEO questions SP’s missing votes claim
Meanwhile, from Tuesday (September 2), the state Election Commission has begun verification of voter lists in Ayodhya and several districts.
Opposition raises concerns
Uttar Pradesh will hold its three-tier panchayat elections next year, often considered a semi-final before the Assembly polls. Opposition parties are raising concerns over the possible deletion of names from the rolls. Though the state Election Commission has not issued any official statement, district magistrates have been directed to remove duplicate entries and rectify discrepancies.
In Ayodhya alone, officials have identified around 2.6 lakh suspicious entries, which are now being verified by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Similar exercises will take place across districts under the supervision of election officers. Panchayat electoral rolls are separate from Assembly and Lok Sabha lists, and their revision falls under the state Election Commission’s purview.
Using AI for voter list checks
Amid the uproar in Bihar, the UP State Election Commission has turned to technology. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to run random checks on the rolls, it found large-scale duplication. Initial estimates suggest nearly 10 per cent of names could be duplicates or suspicious.
Also read: Claims, objections can be filed after September 1, says EC on Bihar SIR
These flagged entries are now being verified by BLOs on the ground. Officials say the irregularities include voters registered in multiple gram panchayats, identical names with minor variations, and entries where personal details such as age, gender, or father’s name match but addresses differ. Some voters appear in both urban and rural lists. The use of AI for such checks has already triggered protests from the Samajwadi Party, even before on-site verification is complete.
What Akhilesh said
The Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party have accused the EC of plotting to delete over 1 crore names through AI checks. They are gearing up for a direct confrontation.
Akhilesh said, “If the ‘jugaad commission’ can detect over one crore discrepancies using AI, then why has it ignored 17,986 affidavits we submitted out of 18,000?”
The SP is planning a coordinated protest strategy.
Sanjay declared, “People of UP must be ready to fight from the streets to Parliament to safeguard their right to vote. The slogan of ‘vote theft’ that has shaken Bihar will now echo in UP too.”
SP spokesperson Udayveer Singh struck a cautious note: “The Election Commission will do its job and political parties will do theirs. We believe no fake voter should be allowed to vote, nor should any legitimate voter be deprived. The rights guaranteed by the Constitution must be protected.”
The BJP, however, dismissed the allegations. Party spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “Akhilesh Yadav is deliberately raising such issues to justify his defeat later. Updating voter lists before elections is the Commission’s responsibility, and political parties cooperate in the process. But since the SP lacks a strong booth-level organisation, it is resorting to baseless claims.”
(This article was originally published in The Federal Desh)
