We believe in SIR, ECI is confused, says Ram Gopal Yadav

New Delhi, Dec 10 Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India, claiming that the ECI itself appeared to be confused during the Special Intensive Revision process, which is still in progress in 12 states and union territories.

Speaking to IANS, Ram Gopal Yadav said, “In the SIR, we believe the Election Commission itself is confused. On a large scale, BLOs have marked people as absent, permanently displaced, or even deceased. Some of those who have been shown as dead may in fact still be alive.”

He added, “If the situation continues on such a large scale, votes will be cut.”

Yadav further said, “The most dangerous part of this is that a voter registered in 2003, who continues to be a voter in 2025, does not need to submit any documents as per the Election Commission’s rules. They only need to fill out a form to remain a voter. There are lakhs of such cases. For example, I have been voting since 1967, long before 2003, and I will continue voting in 2025. Yet we have been placed in Category C, and now we will receive notices asking for documents. On one hand, the Election Commission says no documents are needed; on the other hand, to reduce the workload of officials, staff, and collectors, everyone has been placed in Category C.”

“Before cutting any vote, it is necessary to issue a notice. The SDM said that notices were sent, but people never received them. If you do not receive the notice, you cannot respond, and your vote will be cut. Already, two to three lakh votes have been cut, and this number may increase by another two to three lakh. Only 50 per cent of the votes may remain. This is the real issue, and people are not understanding it,” he told IANS.

Meanwhile, on December 1, the Election Commission extended the timeline for SIR Phase 2 across all 12 states and UTs, allowing an additional week for booth-level officers (BLOs) to share the list of absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate electors with booth-level agents (BLAs) of political parties before the publication of the draft electoral roll, ensuring full transparency. The enumeration period will now continue until December 11 instead of the earlier December 4.

The draft electoral roll will be published on December 16 instead of December 9. Claims and objections can be submitted until January 15, 2026, and the final roll will be published on February 14 (earlier February 7).

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