Lucknow, October 23: In an Assembly seat decided by fewer than 7,000 votes, nearly 10,500 voter-list entries have turned out to be irregular. Uttar Pradesh’s election authorities have now confirmed the problem in Pilibhit and ordered action against the officials involved. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, who first raised the alarm, say the changes targeted Muslim voters.

What the election authorities say

On Thursday, October 22, the office of Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said an inquiry had found irregularities in 10,470 entries in the electoral roll of the Pilibhit Assembly constituency. Corrections had been entered into the system for 13,779 applications, and 10,470 were approved. The inquiry found irregularities in all 10,470 approved entries, according to the statement.

CEO Navdeep Rinwa ordered legal action against two serving and former electoral registration officers (EROs) and the dismissal of a computer assistant. The Pilibhit ERO and the voter registration centre operator were removed from voter-list duties immediately. Reports say an FIR has been filed against three people. The authorities say steps have been taken to rectify all the irregular entries.

How it came to light

The Congress and the SP said they had spotted the problem first. The Congress said it set up a team of 55 people, including volunteers, who checked the electoral roll entries booth by booth across the constituency. It alleged that 13,150 voters in Pilibhit Sadar had identical EPIC (voter ID) numbers despite having different names and fathers’ names, an allegation reported before the CEO’s statement.

SP and Congress leaders went further. They claimed that most of the voters whose details were allegedly altered were Muslims. The Election Commission’s statement, as reported, does not describe the community of the voters affected, and I found no official finding on who was targeted, who benefited, or whether the changes were deliberate.

Why Pilibhit matters

In the 2022 Assembly election, BJP candidate Sanjay Singh Gangwar won the Pilibhit seat by a margin of fewer than 7,000 votes, with the SP candidate in second place. The number of entries found irregular is therefore larger than the winning margin, which is why the opposition parties treat the case as significant. That comparison does not show that any result would have changed, and no one has said so officially. Electoral rolls are updated continuously, and entries that are corrected or removed do not necessarily correspond to people who voted.

The wider row

The finding lands in the middle of a national argument about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which the Opposition says has led to wrongful deletions and alterations, and about Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Opposition has pointed to cases like Pilibhit as evidence for its concerns, while the Election Commission says it acts when errors are found. Here, the Commission’s own inquiry confirmed the irregularities, which both sides are likely to cite.

What happens next

The key questions are how the irregular entries came to be approved, whether other constituencies have similar problems, what the FIR alleges, and whether the authorities will release a detailed account of the corrections. The Opposition is likely to press for an audit across the state, and Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in early 2027.

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