The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Wednesday alleged that voters’ names were being altered in the state’s electoral rolls to deprive people of their voting rights, citing alleged irregularities involving 13,150 entries in the Pilibhit Sadar assembly constituency.
Supriya Shrinate, AICC spokesperson, said Sanjay Gangwar, a UP minister and Pilibhit Sadar MLA, had won the 2022 assembly election by 6,930 votes. She alleged that irregularities involving more than 16,000 votes had been uncovered in the constituency. Imran Masood, working president of the UP Congress Committee and MP, said the final draft of the electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was released on April 10, 2026.
The party would seek legal opinion on the matter. Rajendra Pal Gautam, the AICC in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, alleged that the Election Commission had devised a system that could manipulate election outcomes. Shrinate alleged that Election Commission software and technology had been used to add, remove and alter voters’ names.
Addressing a press conference, UP Congress president Aradhana Mishra said, “the disappearance of names from electoral rolls was a grave issue that previously came to light only in the final stages of an election. “A system has been engineered under chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, which allows for the manipulation of election outcomes, ensuring the defeat or victory of any candidate at will,” he said. “Officials said they did not have access to the software and that the whereabouts of the officer who allegedly carried out the alterations were unknown,” she claimed.
He said data that emerged between July and September showed that names associated with 13,150 entries in Assembly Constituency No. 127 (Pilibhit Sadar) had been altered, while the original Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and serial numbers remained unchanged.
“As a result, the voter remains entirely unaware that their record has been tampered with,” he said.
