Lucknow: In Uttar Pradesh, BJP is anxious over an surprising challenge—the Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an train that the social gathering’s senior management has repeatedly defended as routine.

Sources instructed ThePrint that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has raised considerations concerning the revised electoral listing leaving out a big chunk of BJP supporters. One other fear is that the social gathering may lose its grip on energy in city areas, together with NCR, the place many residents belong to different states and would favor to retain their names on the electoral listing from their hometowns.

SIR started earlier this 12 months forward of meeting elections in Bihar and the ballot panel later introduced the second part of the train can be carried out in 12 extra states, together with UP and Delhi.

Opposition events have fiercely contested SIR, which—they allege—is an try to govern elections by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters. However the BJP-led Centre has argued that it’s a routine constitutional train to revise electoral rolls throughout the nation.
The dispute has reached the Supreme Court docket, which is listening to a clutch of petitions difficult the constitutionality of SIR.

In UP, the nation’s most populous state, SIR started on 4 November and was scheduled to be accomplished in a month’s time. However the Election Fee final week prolonged this deadline until 26 December following a request from the state’s chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa.

---

Additionally Learn: SIR a ‘backdoor NRC’ meant to disenfranchise individuals in title of faith—Owaisi in Lok Sabha

---

‘A severe matter’

A supply instructed ThePrint that CM Adityanath, talking at an occasion to announce UP BJP’s state president Sunday, warned social gathering functionaries that round 4 crore voters may very well be faraway from electoral rolls and “85 to 90 %” of them have been “ours”.

The Chief Minister urged BJP employees to succeed in out to each voter until the train was on.

“UP’s inhabitants is round 25 crore. Of this, practically 65 % needs to be voters, together with these turning 18. By this calculation, the variety of voters needs to be 16 crore. However, up to now, SIR rely has reached 12 crore,” Adityanath stated on the occasion.

An official on the Chief Minister’s Workplace confirmed that Adityanath had cautioned social gathering employees in opposition to complacency, stressing that he was carefully monitoring your entire course of.

The official stated the CM had raised comparable considerations throughout a closed-door assembly two weeks in the past. Adityanath urged ministers and MLAs to actively take part within the train and keep away from touring for occasions similar to weddings.

“He made it clear that leaders are taking the problem frivolously, when, in reality, it was a severe matter,” the official stated.

In accordance with information by the State Election Fee until 10 December, UP had 15.44 crore voters on its current electoral roll (dated 27 October 2025).

For SIR, booth-level officers (BLOs) distributed enumeration kinds to fifteen.43 crore voters, protecting 99.9 % of the voters. Of those, 80.29 % of the kinds have been taken again by BLOs, with signatures of the voter or a member of the family.

The remaining 19 % of the kinds—or 2.91 crore—have been “uncollectible”, the EC stated. The revised electoral roll is but to be printed.

A BJP functionary stated that almost one-fifth of voters being faraway from the voter listing was an “extraordinarily severe” matter.

“Our inside stories from BLAs counsel that a big part of those voters belong to the higher castes, who’re our core base. Even when solely half of them are higher caste, we might lose no less than 1.5 crore voters. With only a few days left earlier than the deadline, this can be a main concern,” the functionary stated.

On the distinction in estimates by the CM and the ballot panel’s calculation, he added, “The chief minister’s estimate of 4 crore lacking voters is legitimate, simply because the Election Fee’s determine of practically three crore is right. The distinction is that the chief minister has doubtless included those that are anticipated to be first-time voters.”

A dent in city strongholds?

Senior BJP functionaries in UP agree with Adityanath’s evaluation and have requested social gathering employees to step up their efforts to get voters to make sure that they return their signed enumeration kinds to the ballot panel.

“First, in city centres similar to Lucknow, Agra, Noida and Ghaziabad, we’re getting suggestions that many citizens choose to retain their voter IDs of their ancestral villages relatively than within the cities the place they presently dwell. This largely includes people who find themselves registered at two locations. The quantity may run into lakhs, and this will result in losses in city areas, the place we have now a powerful maintain,” a senior BJP chief stated.

Within the final UP meeting election in 2022, BJP gained a majority of city segments within the state. In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, although the social gathering’s tally in UP practically halved from 2019 elections, distinguished city areas within the state have been gained by BJP.

The senior chief cited the expertise of a BLO in Ghaziabad.

“The BLO instructed me that in a high-rise society, most residents are opting to maintain their votes of their ancestral locations. Some have even stated they not wish to vote in Ghaziabad. They’re prepared for his or her names to be eliminated throughout SIR and plan to submit Kind 6 (for voter registration) of their villages,” he stated.

The BJP chief added that seniors have been busy attending authorities programmes, personal features and social gathering occasions whereas Opposition leaders are focusing completely on SIR as a result of they’re anxious about their core voter base.

“That form of urgency is lacking amongst our leaders, which isn’t a great signal,” he stated.

A basis stone

One other concern, in response to the senior BJP chief, was that some Opposition events, in being vigilant about SIR, have been unintentionally bettering their organisational capabilities.

“Opposition events, notably the Samajwadi Get together, have appointed nearly as many BLAs (booth-level brokers) as we have now, with solely a marginal distinction. This train helps them construct a booth-level cadre, which is one thing they earlier lacked,” the chief stated.

EC information backs this stand. Of 4.91 lakh BLAs appointed by political events throughout UP, 1.59 lakh are of the BJP, adopted by 1.42 lakh of SP. The Bahujan Samaj Get together (BSP) has 1.38 lakh BLAs, and the Congress, 49,121.

Requested about this, senior SP chief and spokesperson Udaiveer Singh instructed ThePrint that overseeing the roll revision train was “considerably annoying”, however it has helped the social gathering.

“Now, we have now our employees at each sales space. Earlier, we acquired stories that issues would possibly come up in minority areas throughout SIR. However, after witnessing the form of chaos that occurred in Bihar, individuals in UP are actually extra conscious and are collaborating actively within the course of,” Singh stated.

The BJP, on its half, is making an attempt to handle these worries.

“We’re undoubtedly the primary social gathering in Uttar Pradesh, however we have to focus rather more on the SIR course of. I agree with the chief minister’s assertion, and his concern is legitimate. Our employees shouldn’t be overconfident,” stated Avanish Tyagi, a BJP chief from west UP.

BJP sources stated the social gathering has assigned particular accountability for 25 districts every to the state’s two deputy CMs — Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak.

Maurya and Pathak will personally monitor the method to determine unlawful immigrants and be sure that their names are faraway from the voter listing.

Additional, CM Adityanath has directed social gathering employees and office-bearers to work carefully with the police and district administrations to conduct door-to-door verification, together with in slums and different areas. “Those that are unable to supply legitimate paperwork needs to be instantly reported to the administration,” the CM had stated at a gathering final week, in response to the supply.

---

Additionally Learn: ‘Fact will defeat Modi, Shah’—at Congress ‘vote chori’ rally, Rahul & Priyanka tear into BJP

---