Lucknow, April 10 The Congress on Friday termed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in Uttar Pradesh as "illegal", saying it constitutes a "betrayal of democracy and a violation of the public's voting rights".
The Congress' reaction came after Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa on Friday said that the SIR exercise was conducted from October 27, 2025, to April 10, 2026, covering all 75 districts and 403 Assembly constituencies, culminating in the publication of the final electoral roll and the final list showed an increase of over 84 lakh voters from the draft list released on January 6, taking the total electorate to 13.39 crore.
In a statement issued here on Friday by the party, UP Congress chief Ajay Rai said, "The process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in Uttar Pradesh is illegal. It constitutes a betrayal of democracy and a violation of the public's voting rights."
Rai also said that previously, when RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj sought copies of files and orders related to the SIR from the Election Commission through an RTI application, the Commission's principal secretary replied that neither any files on them were available within the Commission nor any such orders had been issued.
"In light of this, is the SIR being conducted at the behest of the BJP? Furthermore, the Constitution contains no provision authorising the conduct of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on such a massive scale," Rai said in the statement issued by the party.
Rai also alleged that under duress from the BJP, the Election Commission exerted pressure on booth level officers (BLOs) to engage in malpractices during the SIR process. The situation tragically resulted in the deaths of several BLOs across the state, he alleged.
He questioned whether, much like the situation in Bengal, the names of individuals belonging to specific communities have been deliberately identified and removed from the list as part of a calculated strategy.
Refusing to accept the current voter list, Rai said that before the UP assembly elections, a comprehensive verification process should be conducted to ensure that the names of all individuals who have attained the age of 18 are added to the voter list.
"Furthermore, if the Central Election Commission is unable to undertake this task, then the voter lists of the urban local bodies and gram panchayats should be used for the elections instead," Rai said in the statement.
