Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday demanded the removal of booth-level officers, additional district magistrates (elections) and electoral registration officers allegedly “appointed on caste and religious grounds” before the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh.
The Election Commission on Monday announced that it will conduct phase two of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 12 states and Union Territories, including Uttar Pradesh.
In a memorandum submitted to the chief electoral officer, Samajwadi Party’s state president Shyam Lal Pal alleged bias in the appointments made for conducting the SIR across the 403 assembly constituencies in the state.
He alleged that the ruling BJP government has influenced the process by appointing officials who shared its “ideological mindset.”
The party said that 1,62,486 polling stations across the state would cover around 15.44 crore voters during the SIR process, and urged the Election Commission to ensure its credibility by appointing officials “in a fair and transparent manner”, representing all castes and religions.
The memorandum also referred to the 2024 assembly by-elections in Kanpur Nagar’s Sisamau constituency and Ambedkar Nagar’s Katehri constituency, where the Samajwadi Party alleged that booth-level officers were replaced on caste and religious basis.
The party said its complaints dated August 23 and September 23, 2024, were ignored and no action was taken.
It further claimed that similar irregularities occurred in the appointment of polling and counting personnel during the 2024 by-elections, but the Election Commission “remained a silent spectator.”
Samajwadi Party leaders KK Srivastava, Harishchandra, and Radheshyam Singh submitted the memorandum to Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral officer.
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