UP CM Yogi Adityanath has taken a strong stand against the deletion of 1.27 crore voters, finding common ground with the Opposition, albeit for entirely different reasons
The elections in Uttar Pradesh are round the corner but the politically volatile state is already seeing hectic political activity. Akhilesh Yadav has already taken up the deletion of voters in SIR. The Opposition got a shot in the arm when it found Yogi Adityanath also making the common cause. Adityanath's claim that 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from Uttar Pradesh's Assembly rolls has made the Opposition's anti-Special Intensive Revision campaign even more vigorous. But is Yogi really on the same page as the Opposition. Not quite. The chief minister still defends SIR. True he he has raised red flag but he is not for its scrapping. He is contesting its outcome not its exercise. His concerns are specific.
According to him, 66 lakh people on panchayat rolls, 55 lakh welfare beneficiaries and 4.5 lakh young voters are missing from the Assembly roll. The roll fell from 15.44 crore to 13.39 crore, local-body rolls still carry some 3.45 crore more names. The number is staggering and thus a cause of concern, as it could make the difference between winning and losing. But to be fair to the Commission, Local-body rolls are compiled separately, so a gap is a mismatch to reconcile, not proof of wrongdoing. The big question, however, is intention, which is being raised by the Opposition. Coming from a party that has otherwise wholeheartedly backed the Chief Election Commissioner, Yogi Adityanath's decision to take a contrary stand is bound to raise eyebrows.
Is it Centre vs state playing through SIR? May be, may be not, atleast not yet. The grievance went to the Commission as a formal memorandum. And the party speaks in two voices: national leaders defend the Commission and dismiss vote chori, but once Yogi went public with his grievance, he broke the unwritten code of airing grievances in public, creating doubts. But his anxiety is understandable. It is electoral. In December, he warned four crore voters were missing, 85 to 90 per cent of them the party's.
It would amount to political harakiri for the BJP to do anything that undermines its position in Uttar Pradesh, given the widely acknowledged reality that the road to Delhi runs through the State. It would, therefore, be prudent for the party to dispel such rumours at the earliest. But does it really vindicate the opposition? Partly. A BJP chief minister now raises a discrepancy the opposition flagged in January, lending weight to its demand for accountability from the Commission.
It does not vindicate vote chori. His grievance, that the party's supporters are missing, undercuts the idea of a design to favour it. In a way, it counters the Opposition's claim that the EC was acting in a partisan manner. But it also means that the Commission was not doing its duty well and that there were many omissions and commissions which were not warranted. The takeaway, therefore, is: SIR's flaws look real, partisan design remains unproven. His concerns about SIR may or may not help the Opposition but it definitely shakes public confidence in the whole exercise, which is already drawing a lot of flak from all quarters.