Lucknow: The political temperature in Uttar Pradesh has soared ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections following a fierce war of words over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s voter list. Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav has mounted a sharp attack on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, questioning his recent claim that the names of 1.27 crore Hindu voters have gone missing from the electoral rolls.
Addressing the issue, Yadav raised fundamental questions about the demographic assertions made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He asked how the Chief Minister obtained these specific figures and, more importantly, how the religion of the deleted voters was identified. “If names were removed from the voter list, how did they find out the religion of those people? Who provided this data to the Chief Minister, and what is its basis?” the former Chief Minister questioned.
The controversy erupted after CM Yogi Adityanath, during a BJP state executive committee meeting, reportedly stated that over a crore Hindu voters were missing from the electoral lists. Responding to this, Yadav accused the ruling party of using terms like “infiltrators” to create fear and ultimately deprive legitimate citizens of their fundamental voting rights.
Broadening his attack, the SP chief also questioned the Election Commission’s processes. He alleged that the current administration seems to consider only BJP members as genuine citizens. Highlighting a demographic discrepancy, Yadav pointed out that based on Uttar Pradesh’s population statistics, the state should ideally have over 16 crore registered voters. However, the current electoral figure stands at roughly 13 crore.
Taking a political dig at the BJP’s recent electoral setbacks, Yadav linked the Chief Minister’s sudden concern for the voter list to the party’s recent losses in the MLC elections. “When did he remember that 1.27 crore votes were reduced? Only after losing the MLC elections,” Yadav remarked, adding that the much-touted “double engine” government has now been reduced to “double zero.”
As the Election Commission carries out the SIR process to update and verify electoral rolls, this data dispute has set the stage for a highly charged political narrative. Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party are now heavily monitoring the booth-level voter verification drive, ensuring the electoral battlelines are firmly drawn well before the state goes to the polls.