India, Oct. 24 -- A major voter list anomaly in Pilibhit Sadar has triggered the Election Commission's first statewide scrutiny in Uttar Pradesh, raising doubts over the integrity of the state's upcoming elections. In a constituency won by barely 6,970 votes by the BJP against the SP in 2022, the Opposition's detection of 16,554 discrepancies in the post-SIR voter list - and the poll panel's subsequent confirmation of 10,470 irregular entries - has set off statewide alarm bells over how undetected roll anomalies on this scale could overturn victory margins in future polls.

BJP candidate Sanjay Gangwar had won against the SP's Shailendra Singh Gangwar.

The Pilibhit episode has put a big question mark over the SIR exercise in Uttar Prades...