Lucknow, Nov. 9 -- Adding explosively to the raging controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the poll-bound state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has alleged that nearly 1.27 crore Hindu voters have been left out of the state's electoral rolls even as more Muslims have been enrolled.
Opposition parties have accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of facilitating vote chori (theft) through the SIR exercise and have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. In Uttar Pradesh, however, the controversy has taken a different turn, with Yogi alleging that a disproportionately large number of Hindu voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls, including beneficiaries of government welfare schemes.
Addressing a media event in Ayodhya on Saturday, Yogi challenged Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to demand the withdrawal of the SIR exercise. He claimed that the number of Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh had increased by 1.63 per cent, while the number of Hindu voters had declined by 1.27 crore.
"We have also submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission, seeking an explanation for the reasons behind these changes," the chief minister said.
Yogi claimed that around 1.27 crore Hindu voters were missing from the Assembly electoral rolls. Of these, 66 lakh voters were allegedly enrolled in the state's Panchayat electoral rolls but not in the Assembly voter list.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.