Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the Lok Sabha debate on electoral reforms, alleging that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Uttar Pradesh was effectively an “NRC in disguise”.
The Kannauj MP claimed that the SIR process was being misused by the authorities to carry out work that “could not be done openly”. “This is not SIR. Inside, they are doing NRC-type work. What they could not do publicly, they are now doing under the guise of SIR,” he said.
Yadav questioned the rationale behind the alleged construction of detention centres in Uttar Pradesh, linking it directly to the revision drive. “I have heard that the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is saying they are building detention centres. Why do you need detention centres for those whose names are not on the SIR list? It means the work they could not openly carry out under NRC, they are now doing through SIR,” he remarked.
Raising concerns over the working conditions of field officials, Yadav claimed that several Booth Level Officers (BLOs) had died during the SIR exercise. “Till now, 10 BLOs have lost their lives in the state during the ongoing SIR process. We demand that the families of the deceased BLOs be given Rs 1 crore as ex-gratia and a government job for one member of each family,” he said, adding that the Samajwadi Party had already extended financial support of Rs 2 lakh to the affected families.
The SP chief also alleged that the majority of BLOs in Uttar Pradesh had received inadequate training. He reiterated the need for the ECI to function independently and transparently, saying, “Reform is possible only when the Election Commission is impartial. The Commission must listen to its inner voice, and the previous system of appointments should be reinstated.”
Akhilesh Yadav expressed agreement with Congress MP Manish Tewari’s proposal to amend the law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. “I support the demand to change the appointment process. The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India should be included in the selection panel,” he said.
He also endorsed the Congress’s appeal for a return to ballot papers, arguing that several advanced democracies had questioned electronic voting. “In Germany, EVM votes are considered unconstitutional. If technologically advanced nations like Germany are rejecting EVMs, why are we still conducting elections using them?” Yadav asked.
Criticising the state of the electoral system, he said, “We need reform to fix something that is deformed. How did our election process get disrupted? Today, the process is disrupted because of internal issues within the electoral body.” The debate on SIR and wider electoral reforms continues to generate significant political friction, with Opposition parties alleging that administrative changes are being used to target voters selectively.
