Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 8 (ANI) The Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday appealed to voters and ‘PDA Guardians’ to ensure that votes from the PDA society are not divided ahead of the upcoming elections. He emphasised the importance of unity with the slogan, “Not a single vote should be split, not a single vote should be reduced.”
Akhilesh Yadav warned that missing entries in voter lists could be exploited by the BJP government to deny citizens access to government schemes, jobs, ration cards, land, and other rights. He urged voters to treat their Voter ID as their Citizen ID and to remain vigilant in registering their votes.
He added that safeguarding votes is essential not only to remove a “corrupt government” but also to protect constitutional rights, reservations, and property. “Register your vote, save your future,” he said, urging all PDA society members to participate actively in the democratic process.
He shared a message on X, “Dear Voters and PDA Guardians, This is once again an appeal to every voter and every ‘PDA Guardian’ that they must not allow any conspiracy to split the votes of PDA society to succeed. Despite the efforts of the ‘PDA Guardians,’ millions of votes from the PDA society are still being divided. Now, the PDA Guardians must conduct thorough investigations at every polling booth, and with the slogan ‘Not a single vote should be split, not a single vote should be reduced,’ we all must unite once more to save every single vote”.
“The BJP government, which can play the game of uncontested elections, will do anything to split votes, because their secret intent–along with their allies–is to win elections, form a government, then engage in corruption and seize control of water, forests, and land,” he said.
“The ‘PDA society’ must proceed with this thought: When we have the right to vote and form a government, we face this much oppression; if the decisive right to vote is not in the hands of the people of our ‘PDA society,’ then how much more will we be tormented? These domineering forces will form a government of their whims and, like a shield, destroy the Constitution that protects us. Saving your vote also means saving your Constitution and your rights to reservation and jobs,” he added.
Earlier, the Congress and Samajwadi Party on Tuesday raised serious concerns over the removal of 2.89 crore voters from the Uttar Pradesh Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft voter list, with State Congress President Ajay Rai alleging a “big conspiracy” and demanding a thorough probe into the matter.
Speaking in Lucknow to ANI, Rai said, “The removal of 2.89 crore voters (from UP SIR draft list) is a matter of inquiry. 1.13 crore forms, which were not returned. This is a big conspiracy, and a probe should be done.”
Meanwhile, following the completion of the enumeration phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Uttar Pradesh, the Office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has said that Lucknow has the highest number of voters deleted, 30.04 per cent, in the draft Electoral roll.
According to UP CEO Navdeep Rinwa, on October 27, there were 39,94,535 electors in the city, while on January 5, the number was reduced to 27,94,397.
On Tuesday, Navdeep Rinwa announced the publication of the draft electoral roll after the completion of the Enumeration Phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. A total of 2.89 crore names were deleted from the draft voter list.
Addressing the press, Navdeep Rinwa said, “The number of enumeration forms we received was approximately 12 crore, 55 lakh. This means that this many people returned the forms signed, indicating that their names should be included in the draft list. There were 46.23 lakh such deceased voters. There are 2.17 crore voters who have migrated, those who have shifted from their place of residence, who have left the house where they were residing when they registered their name in the voter list, and have permanently moved, or are missing or absent, or could not be found by the BLOs in the field. There were 25.47 lakh voters whose names were registered in more than one place on the voter list. In total, 2.89 crore names were not included in the draft voter list.”As per the SIR Order, the Draft Electoral Roll has been published on January 6, 2026. Printed and digital booth-wise copies have been provided to all recognised Political Parties and also made available on the CEO’s website (ceouttarpradesh.nic.in).
The claims and objections period runs from January 6, 2026 to February 6, 2026. Any existing or prospective elector may file claims or objections for inclusion of eligible electors or deletion of ineligible names.
A total of 403 EROs and 2042 AEROs are in position to scrutinise such cases by February 27, 2026. In addition to that, Additional AEROs have been notified as per the requirement to dispose off the claims and objections, within the prescribed time limit. (ANI)