UP Congress Leader Claims Family Members' Names Removed From Draft SIR - What Election Commission Said

New Delhi: A Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal has claimed that the names of his family members including himself have been deleted from the draft electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Uttar Pradesh. The Election Commission of India had released the SIR draft roll in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.Raising the matter on X, the Congress leader in a long post claimed that names of all the members of his family including him have been deleted from the draft electoral roll post the SIR exercise.He mentioned that the names were there in 2003 voter list. They were also there in the last election voter list. Adding further Sappal said that his parents names were there in 2003 voter list and that he had deposited the required

documents as per SIR guidelines.

"We also have passports, birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, matriculation certificates, bank accounts, property papers. Moreover, I am not an unknown individual. I have worked as Joint Secretary to the Vice President of India and in Rajya Sabha Secretariat. I am also a member of Congress Working Committee and a familiar face on TV," Sappal informed."Infact, I have also been a part of Congress delegations to Election Commission on SIR and other issues. The BLO is also familiar with it. Yet our names were deleted," Sappal said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSo7hU34k6o

However, Sappal did mention that they have shifted their residence from UP’s Sahibabad constituency to Noida constituency and informed that in SIR but there is no provision to record names of shifted voters, the Congress leader said.Sappal then questioned whether if anyone has shifted the residence to a new area, his/her name will be deleted?"I am not alone. There are crore of voter, whose names have been deleted on same grounds. Perhaps, I may get now get reenrolled as new voter by filling Form 6. But how many will be able to do it? This is the reality of SIR," the Congress leader mentioned.ALSO READ |Uttar Pradesh SIR Draft Released, 2.89 Crore Voters Deleted - Check Details

How Election Commission Responded to Congress Leader’s Claim

Responding to the Congress leader, the poll body said that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have done their job correctly. Those whose names are not included in the draft roll, they can fill out Form 6 and get their names added, as this is not a final electoral roll.The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on Tuesday after the SIR excluded 2.89 crore voters but retains 12.55 crore, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa.The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said at a press conference. The final electoral list will be published on March 6, Rinwa added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fgCS3pVFQo

Opposition Hits Out At Centre Over SIR

The opposition parties in UP have criticised the draft electoral roll after the SIR exercise.According to PTI, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said the time allotted for the SIR exercise was short."This is a completely hasty decision. The way the SIR process was started by giving only one month in a large state like Uttar Pradesh is unreasonable."They gave one month even to a small state like Kerala. Uttar Pradesh should have been given at least five to six months, as was done earlier in 2002–03... Had it been done that way, the booth level officers (BLOs) would not have been under such pressure and suicides could have been avoided."

Akhilesh Yadav Warns Election Commission

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav warned the Election Commission about the draft roll in Mainpuri, the Lok Sabha constituency of his wife Dimple Yadav.In a post on X, the Kannauj MP and former UP chief minister said, "Before the anger of the voters turns into agitation, the Election Commission should correct the voter list by taking cognisance of the valid names cut from the SIR in Mainpuri."Meanwhile, Rinwa said the EC had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled out and signed by voters or their family members.ALSO READ | ‘Fark Samjho Sirji!’ Rahul Gandhi’s One-Line Attack on Modi as Trump Tariffs Bite India While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing that the names of a large number of voters, nearly 2.97 crore, were getting excluded from the draft list. Consequently, the enumeration phase was extended till December 26.According to the CEO, out of 15.44 crore voters in the October 27, 2025 electoral roll, enumeration forms were received for 12.55 crore voters, accounting for 81.30 per cent of the electorate.Rinwa said December 31 was initially fixed as the publication date of the draft roll, but parallel fieldwork and ECI instructions to rationalise polling stations led to a delay.With inputs from PTI