"Conspiracy underway to remove PDA votes": Akhilesh Yadav questions ECI's "credibility" over UP's draft electoral roll after SIR

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 10 (ANI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged that votes belonging to the "PDA" (Picchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) sections were being removed from the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, accusing the Election Commission of facilitating the addition of votes in favour of the Union government.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Yadav questioned the Election Commission's credibility, claiming that nearly three lakh voters had already been removed from a single district, with more deletions likely.
"So far 3 lakh votes have been removed in one district, and that more votes will still be removed. This raises serious questions about the credibility of the Election Commission. After the exercise by the State Election Commission and the Government of India, it appears that some conspiracy is underway to remove PDA votes and add their own votes," Akhilesh Yadav told reporters.
He noted that the SIR exercise was conducted on a large scale across Uttar Pradesh and involved officials from multiple departments. Yadav added that no political party opposed the exercise, and all parties appointed their Booth Level Agents (BLAs).
"SIR exercise was conducted in Uttar Pradesh in which officials from several departments were involved. The SIR was carried out on a large scale in UP, and no political party opposed it; everyone prepared their BLA," Akhilesh Yadav said.
Referring to the publication of the draft electoral roll, Yadav said there were apprehensions that nearly three crore voters could be deleted. He further claimed that, even before the draft roll was released, when no official data was available, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had stated that four crore voters would be removed, asserting that they belonged to the BJP.
"However, now the draft roll has been released, and there was an apprehension that nearly 3 crore (30 million) voters would be deleted. We feared that 3 crore would be removed, but even before the list came out--when no one had any information--the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said that 4 crore voters are going to be removed, and those voters belong to the BJP," he said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had earlier announced the publication of the draft electoral roll following the completion of the Enumeration Phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. A total of 2.89 crore names were deleted from the draft voter list.
Addressing the press, Navdeep Rinwa said, "The number of enumeration forms we received was approximately 12 crore, 55 lakh. This means that this many people returned the forms signed, indicating that their names should be included in the draft list. There were 46.23 lakh such deceased voters. There are 2.17 crore voters who have migrated, those who have shifted from their place of residence, who have left the house where they were residing when they registered their name in the voter list, and have permanently moved, or are missing or absent, or could not be found by the BLOs in the field. There were 25.47 lakh voters whose names were registered in more than one place on the voter list. In total, 2.89 crore names were not included in the draft voter list."
A total of 12,55,56,025 electors, out of a total of 15,44,30,092 electors, as per the Electoral Roll on October 27, 2025, have submitted their Enumeration Forms till December 26, 2025, reflecting an overwhelming participation in the first phase of SIR, according to the CEO. (ANI)