LUCKNOW, 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 Pradesh with the ECI ordering legal action against serving and former electoral registration officers (EROs) over irregularities detected now; besides, services of the Voter Registration Centre's Computer Assistant (VRC operator) will be terminated. The controversy has put the spotlight on the 'disenfranchisement issue'. An FIR was registered on Thursday against two sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) and a computer operator over alleged irregularities in the electoral roll of Pilibhit Sadar assembly constituency, with the district administration initiating criminal and departmental proceedings. Pilibhit district magistrate Alok Kumar confirmed the FIR and said preliminary investigations, conducted on the directions of UP chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa, had found lapses on the part of Puranpur SDM Mayank Goswami and Amariya SDM Hemant Chaudhary. Both officers have been removed from their posts and attached to the district headquarters, while computer operator Anil Kumar has been dismissed from service. Departmental proceedings against the two SDMs have also been initiated. After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Special Intensive Revision of electoral roll was held in Uttar Pradesh between November 4, 2025, and April 10, 2026. The Pilibhit episode is a case of detection of discrepancies in post-SIR electoral roll. "Sitting in a cyber cafe, I saw someone unable to download EPIC (electors photo identity card). Alarmed, I checked all seven voters in my family only to find two had different names with same EPIC number. We had checked the final draft list in April and had it correct," said Rehan Alvi, a lawyer, who was among the first few to notice the glitch. This revelation brought out 16,554 such names with errors, out of which the election commission accepted 10,470 erroneous entries. "My brother Nizan's name changed to Kadir Khan and sister Gaus Fatima's name to Afreen," he added. "Names of 13,150 voters were changed despite the EPIC number remaining the same, while in 884 cases names were not found. A total of 2,600 names of people were added who are actually not residing in the constituency. This takes the total number of discrepancies to 16,554 across all booths," said Kumud Gangwar, a whistleblower in the case, AICC member and former state general secretary in the party. "Other constituencies the across the state may also have similar discrepancies in the voter list as during random search, similar issues came from a few other constituencies including Puranpur, Bisalpur and Bakhera constituencies. We will work upon them too," he said. In this constituency, 2,59,821 votes were polled where winner BJP's Sanjay Gangwar got 1,25,506 and SP's Shailendra Singh Gangwar 1,18,536, leaving a margin of 6,970, less than the number of votes cited under discrepancy by the Congress. "As the news spread, I checked votes in my family and found Ilias Ali Mohd written against my name while names of my father Rafiq Ahmad and brother Rehan Ahmad were missing," said Noor-ud-din another voter of the constituency. Kumud Gangwar said, "We cross checked each of the 3.48 lakh voters with a team of over 50 people and took 96 hours to bring out the total discrepancy." Uttar Pradesh Congress has decided to launch a campaign to demand checking of all voter lists across the state. "This discrepancy debars an eligible voter from the right to exercise franchise. We are taking legal opinion to go forward on the issue across state," said UP Congress chief Aradhana Mishra. "We have seven voters in the family, and at present, two names are missing from the list online," said Mohd Yasin Ansari. "What was further alarming that majority votes with discrepancy were from a particular community," added Kumud Gangwar. During the investigation, the district election officer (DEO) detected irregularities in 10,470 voter entries. UP chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said a detailed investigation report was received on Thursday from the DEO, Pilibhit, regarding a complaint that the EPIC number of voters registered in the voter list for Pilibhit assembly constituency displayed another voters' details. "According to the investigation report received, 13,779 Form-8 entries were made by the computer assistant (VRC operator) at the voter registration centre of the assembly constituency 127-Pilibhit between May 31, 2026 and August 29, 2026 for amendments to voter details. Of these, 4,717 forms were entered till July 16, 2026, and the remaining 9,062 forms entered between July 17, 2026 and August 29, 2026," said a press statement. No forms or records related to these entries were found available in the office. Of these 13,779 Form-8, 10,470 were approved and 3,309 rejected. Thus, irregularities were found in 10,470 entries. The computer assistant (VRC operator) of the voter registration centre of Pilibhit, responsible for the discrepancy in the entries, and the EROs posted in Pilibhit assembly constituency till July 16, 2026 and from July 17 2026 to August 29, 2026, have been held guilty in this case and instructions given to take legal action against them under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, he added. Instructions have also been given to conduct a thorough investigation into the role of the assistant electoral registration officers concerned in the case and submit a report, he said. Orders have been given to terminate the services of the computer assistant (VRC 0perator) of the voter registration centre of Pilibhit assembly constituency. Instructions have also been given to initiate departmental proceedings against both the EROs. Directions have been given to the district election officer, Pilibhit, to conduct a thorough investigation of all Form-6 entries for adding names to the voter list and all Form-7 entries for deletion of names by the VRC operator of the VRC between the end of SIR-2026 (April 10, 2026) and October 21 and submit a detailed report within a day in the CEO office, he said. Furthermore, the process of correcting all the entries related to Form 8, in which discrepancies have been found as per the rules, is underway, said the officer....