Alarm bells ring in BJP after UP SIR deletions, party sets voter addition target

People search for their names in the draft list in Mirzapur, UP. (PTI)

Hours after the Election Commission (EC) released the draft electoral roll of UP with 2.89 crore deletions, comprising 18.70% of the electorate, the top leadership of the state’s ruling BJP met to share its concern over the large number of exclusions ahead of Assembly elections next year. The top brass also gave the state’s party leaders a target: get at least 200 voters added at every polling booth before the electoral roll is finalised.

According to the EC, 12.55 crore voters made it to UP’s draft roll while the state topped the total number of deletions in the country, mainly due to electors being marked as deceased, shifted, absent or enrolled at multiple places.

Pointing out that there are 1.77 lakh polling booths after the recent rationalisation exercise, a senior state BJP leader told The Indian Express: “As per the target of 200 voters per booth, party leaders have been asked to ensure that they enroll over 3.5 crore genuine voters. These could be new young voters, those deleted from the rolls due to lack of documents or errors in electoral rolls, and those untraceable as well as unmapped.”

The target has been set “as per an estimation that there would be around 15.5 crore eligible voters in the state at present”, the leader said.

The EC has stated that claims and objections on additions and deletions will be received from January 6 to February 6, with the final publication of the voter list scheduled on March 6.

Sources said that after the draft rolls were published, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP’s UP president Pankaj Chaudhary held a virtual meeting with all state ministers, and the party’s MPs, MLAs, MLCs, office-bearers and district presidents. “The CM and state president expressed their concern over the large number of deletions,” the sources said.

According to the senior party leader who spoke to this newspaper, the party will reach out to those who hail from UP but are working in other states and have enrolled there. “We will request them to get enrolled in UP. For example, if a UP person is a voter in Delhi, he will be requested to get enrolled in UP ahead of the 2027 polls because there are no Assembly elections in Delhi in the next five years,” the leader said.

Another UP BJP leader said the party has asked its workers to reach out once again to those voters who had their name registered in two Assembly constituencies — one in the city where they are employed and the other at their rural address.

“Due to apprehensions related to SIR, the majority of such voters have preferred to retain their vote in rural areas rather than their current address in cities. But they are unlikely to travel long distances to vote on polling day. So, we have been asked to request such voters to continue as voters at the assembly and Lok Sabha constituency where they can conveniently cast their votes,” the leader said.

Sources said the meeting also discussed the Viksit Bharat-G RAM G Act with leaders asked to make people aware about the benefits of the revised rural jobs guarantee law.