ISLAMABAD: The district administration in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, has ordered a probe after alleged discrepancies were found in the newly released draft electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Indian media reported on Friday.
The issue surfaced in Pathan Tola locality of Pahasu town in Shikarpur tehsil, where several residents claimed that names of voters unknown to them had been added to their residential addresses.
Following complaints, the administration began examining the matter.
Sagir Khan, a resident, submitted a written complaint alleging that the voter list was accurate before the SIR exercise began last month, but errors appeared after the publication of the draft roll.
Additional voters
He claimed that 56 additional voters, all Hindus, were shown as registered at the addresses of more than half a dozen Muslim families.
According to Khan, at least eight houses in the locality recorded a sudden rise in the number of registered voters.
He said that at his residence, listed as house number 125, seven additional names were added, and similar increases were seen at other homes in the area.
Shikarpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Arun Kumar said discrepancies identified in part number 307 of the electoral roll were being corrected through Form 8.
Probe underway
He assured that all genuine complaints would be addressed after verification.
“A probe is underway. Action may be initiated against officials responsible for the task,” Kumar said, adding that the matter was related to errors in the draft voter list.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Form 8 is used for the correction of particulars in electoral rolls, Indian media reported.
'Weaponizing' registration process
Earlier, in Nov. 2025, the Indian opposition political party, Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, accused the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) of “weaponizing” the voter registration revision process for electoral manipulation, warning that the ECI risks complicity if it failed to act.
Exclusion of over 6 million names
Earlier last year, the ECI conducted a revision in the eastern state of Bihar, home to more than 130 million people, ahead of its state elections that were held from Nov. 6.
The process led to the exclusion of around 6.5 million names, which the ECI said was necessary to prevent the inclusion of "foreign illegal immigrants."
India launched the second phase of the SIR on Nov. 4, expanding a contentious exercise that activists warned could fuel disenfranchisement in the world's largest democracy, according to an AFP report.
.jpg)
