SIR-ious Allegations Rock UP Politics: Akhilesh Warns of UP Voter Purge Targeting SP Voters |

Updated: February 08, 2026 19:11

Image Source: National Herald

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has alleged large-scale misuse of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, claiming government-hired professional agencies are selectively targeting booths where the SP previously won, using Form-7 to delete voters and tilt upcoming electoral outcomes in favour of the ruling BJP.

Akhilesh Yadav’s Charge Against SIR

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav accused the Uttar Pradesh government of outsourcing critical electoral work to professional agencies operating from Delhi, Lucknow and other locations with full digital access to electoral rolls. He claimed these entities are mining voter data to identify booths and areas where the Samajwadi Party has historically performed strongly and are then systematically initiating Form-7 objections from those booths.

Yadav argued that this pattern amounts to a politically driven cleansing of voter lists, warning that the SIR process has moved beyond routine roll correction into a tool of targeted disenfranchisement against SP supporters and the broader PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) social coalition he seeks to represent. He further alleged that similar tactics had earlier influenced the Bihar elections and are now being replicated in poll-bound West Bengal, amplifying opposition concerns that the Election Commission’s neutrality is under strain.

Key Takeaways From The Row

Form-7, as defined by the Election Commission, is meant for objections to inclusion or for deletion of names from electoral rolls, but Yadav claims it is being weaponised in bulk against SP-leaning booths.
SIR, a periodic voter list revision exercise, is alleged by the SP chief to have already impacted the outcome of the Bihar polls and to be shaping electoral dynamics in West Bengal, raising larger questions about process transparency.
Yadav says Samajwadi Party workers and PDA “prahari” volunteers are regularly discovering pre-filled, printed Form-7 applications, triggering protests and local tension in affected constituencies.
He also echoed the criticism of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, asserting that repeated interventions in court and public statements from opposition leaders show growing distrust in the Election Commission’s independence.
Politically, the allegations deepen the narrative of institutional bias, as the SP positions itself as defending voter rights and accuses the BJP of using data-driven tactics and outsourced agencies to engineer electoral advantages ahead of future contests.

Sources: Press Trust of India, The Economic Times, National Herald, Deccan Herald.

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