Lucknow,

11 Jan (HS): On Sunday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the governing

BJP of manipulating Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Uttar Pradesh's

electoral record, calling it a case of vote stealing. According to official

statistics, the draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was issued on January 6,

with 12.55 crore voters making the list and 2.89 crore names being eliminated. In

a statement released here, Yadav stated that the Election Commission (EC)

performed the SIR of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly voter list while the State

Election Commission undertook the exercise for panchayat elections. The same

booth-level officers worked on both exercises, he explained. Surprisingly,

following the assembly SIR, the overall number of voters in the state decreased

by 2.89 crore to 12.56 crore.

On

the other side, following the panchayat SIR, the number of rural voters climbed

by 40 lakh to 12.69 crore, he stated. When SP chief questioned EC, he asked,

Tell us which of the two SIRs is correct, because both sets of figures

cannot be correct at the same time. Under pressure from the BJP, Yadav

alleged, the authorities failed to preserve the equation of vote manipulation,

revealing the entire operation. They failed to balance the equation of vote

theft, and the truth has finally been revealed, he claimed. According to

authorities, 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70% of the 15.44 crore previously

mentioned, were unable to be included in the draft electoral list owing to

death, permanent relocation, or double registrations. The final electoral list

will be revealed on March 6.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi