New Delhi: Every entry changed in Uttar Pradesh's voter lists since the Special Intensive Revision ended on April 10 is now subject to audit.
The Election Commission has ordered mandatory scrutiny of all names added, deleted or amended through Forms 6 (registration), 7 (deletion) and 8 (correction) that were fed by computer assistants across all 403 assembly constituencies in the state.
The decision follows the detection of anomalies in the rolls of several constituencies, particularly in districts including Pilibhit and Azamgarh. Officials have said that where voters could not be reached during hearings on notices issued over "no mapping" or logical discrepancies, the forms were generated automatically and carried officials' digital signatures, and the voters were marked ineligible.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seized on the order on Monday. In a post on X, he said the Election Commission had refused to respond to a Right to Information request about the software used in the SIR process, citing trade secrets. He claimed the details of 16.18 lakh Form-6 applications in Uttar Pradesh had not been made public, and that irregularities involving 10,470 voters had been detected in Pilibhit records. He accused the government of using every possible tactic to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
What the order changes on the ground is the paperwork. Under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, an application seeking deletion of a name must state a reason. A deletion without a recorded reason is exactly what the audit is meant to catch.
The political calendar around the roll is filling up. Kharge has asked people to join the Congress's 'Save Votes–Save the Nation' march and rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1. The BJP, meanwhile, is fighting a different battle over a remark Kharge made in Patna.
For now the voter list is being argued in two places at once: in the commission's files, and on the street.