Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal took a sharp swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday, alleging that the Election Commission acts at the behest of central authorities while extending advance congratulations to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The political exchange follows Adityanath’s claims during an interview that 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from Uttar Pradesh draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision exercise,, The Times of India reported. Adityanath dismissed opposition criticism as propaganda, stating that the Muslim voter population increased by 1.65 percent while millions of Hindu beneficiaries of welfare schemes disappeared from the lists, India Today reported.
I warned you before too. Congratulations in advance to Akhilesh ji,” Kejriwal wrote in his post.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has triggered a fierce political battle in the state ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. More than 2.04 crore names were removed from state voter rolls during the exercise, primarily in urban areas, while over 84 lakh new voters were added, leaving a final electorate of 13,39,84,792, India Today reported.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned how the chief minister obtained specific data regarding the deleted Hindu voters before public release. Speaking at a party office event in Lucknow, Yadav asked whether the Election Commission shared confidential data directly with the chief minister’s office, Telegraph India reported.
“The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who kept the entire nation in a state of fear by constantly invoking the issue of infiltrators, now claims that the names of 1.27 crore Hindu voters have been cut,” Yadav said, as reported by Telegraph India. He further claimed that the reduction implies the ruling party faces an electoral deficit of approximately 31,000 votes per assembly constituency.
To prevent alleged electoral manipulation, Yadav demanded sweeping reforms to the voting process. He called for Aadhaar-linked voting, the introduction of metal identity cards that cannot be forged, and fingerprint or iris-based biometric verification.
The Election Commission of India is scheduled to launch a statewide Special Summary Revision drive across Uttar Pradesh on November 12, 2026, to register eligible citizens and enrol individuals missing from the rolls, The New Indian Express reported. Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa stated that district election authorities will compare urban and panchayat local body lists with assembly constituency rolls to identify unregistered voters.
Authorities have instructed district election officers to verify ration shop beneficiary lists and encourage eligible residents aged 18 and above to submit Form 6 applications. The qualifying date for voter registration is set for January 1, 2027, according to The New Indian Express.
