Image source: Getty Images
Pilibhit Sadar Assembly constituency of the state is in discussion amid questions being raised regarding the voter list in Uttar Pradesh.
Here a complaint has come to light that details of different persons are visible on the same EPIC number or in common language, Voter ID number.
While investigating the matter, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh has also said that irregularities have been found in the voter list and has given instructions to take action against the concerned officials.
But how did the matter reach this point?
In fact, on October 21, the party's newly elected state president Aradhana Mishra, UP election in-charge Rajendra Gautam and national spokesperson Supriya Shrinet and other leaders held a press conference at the Congress office in Lucknow.
In this, Congress leaders alleged large-scale irregularities in the voter list of Pilibhit Sadar assembly constituency.
The party claimed that after the completion of the SIR process in the state and the release of the final voter list on April 10, the names of 13,150 voters were changed between July and September 2026.
Whereas their EPIC number and voter list serial number remained the same as in the draft list.
End
Big news from the country and the world that made headlines.
episode
For example, an EPIC number on which the name of a person was earlier registered, was later alleged to be the name of another person appearing on the same number.
EPIC number is a unique identification number recorded on the Voter ID card. In common language it is also called Voter ID number.
It is a unique alphanumeric code made of digits and numbers which helps in identifying and verifying that voter during elections.
In such a situation, seeing the details of another person on the same EPIC number raises serious questions.
Congress also claimed that a large number of the affected names were of Muslims. The party also alleged deletion of names of 804 voters and addition of 2,600 new names in Pilibhit Sadar.
After these allegations, questions were raised on the role of the Election Commission. But the matter was not limited to political allegations only.
The Commission's own investigation also revealed irregularities in the voter list of the Sadar Assembly of Pilibhit district.
In the Pilibhit case, Congress has said that it is also checking the voter lists of other assembly constituencies. The party has raised questions on the entire process of SIR and demanded its cancellation.
Samajwadi Party is also demanding a comprehensive investigation citing duplicate names and other irregularities in the voter list in many assemblies of UP.
What came to light in the commission's investigation?
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh issued a press release on these irregularities on 22 October. In which clarification was given related to Form-8 regarding name-address correction in the voter list.
In which it was told, "A total of 13,779 Form-8 were filed in Pilibhit Sadar Assembly between May and August (i.e. after the release of the final voter list).
Of these, 10,470 were accepted and 3,309 forms were rejected. But neither online nor offline records of the form were available. "We examined the 10,470 accepted forms and subsequent updated entries and found anomalies."
The press note reads, "For this, the computer assistant of the Voter Registration Center and the Electoral Registration Officers i.e. EROs posted in Pilibhit Sadar between May to August have been found guilty. Orders have been given to the computer assistant for termination of service, while there are instructions to take action against the ERO."
Now let us understand the Commission's stand in simple language.
Actually, during SIR, different forms are used for adding, deleting names in the voter list or changing the already recorded information.
Form-6: Filled to add name to the voter list.
Form-7: If a person feels that someone's name should not be there in the voter list, then he can lodge an objection through this form to remove it. However, before removing the name, the concerned officer has to investigate.
Form-8: People whose name is already in the voter list can make corrections in their name, age, address or other information.
Generally, entry of these forms in the system is done by data operators, computer assistants of the voter registration center or the person responsible for that work.
According to him, the 13,779 Form-8 entries in Pilibhit that the Commission is talking about were made by the computer assistant.
As part of the further process, after examining the application, the concerned Election Registration Officer i.e. ERO approves it.
But according to the Commission's investigation in this case, records related to 13,779 Form-8 entries were not found.
The administration has ordered re-examination of all 10,470 approved applications.
What did BBC find in its investigation?
BBC also examined the voter lists of some assembly constituencies at its own level. During this time, we also found many such examples, in which the same name and its related details were registered on different EPIC numbers.
(We have details of EPIC number but it is not being made public due to personal information.)
For example, in the voter list of Bareilly Assembly Constituency-124, the name of the same woman was found registered on two different EPIC numbers at the polling station located in Banke Cantonment. Apart from name, age, relative's name, all the information matches.
Details of another female voter were also found recorded on two different EPIC numbers in the list of the same polling station. Age, relatives and other information are same in both the entries.
In the voter list of Pilibhit Sadar assembly constituency, a woman's name was found registered on three different EPIC numbers. Age, relative's name and polling station are recorded the same in all three entries. There are other such examples also.
We tried to contact the Upazila Election Officer of Pilibhit over phone to know his side in this matter, but could not reach him.
Questions on the role of software also
Image Source: INC-Uttarpradesh/Facebook
Congress also raised questions on the role of ECINet software, the digital system of the Election Commission used for making changes in the voter list.
Party national spokesperson Supriya Srinet, citing media reports, said that district level officials, including the ERO, had complained about not having access to the software.
Naming the head of the Election Commission's technology and software department, he asked, "If the local authorities did not have full access to the system, then who made the changes in voter details in Pilibhit and under whose control?"
The Commission has not yet responded to these allegations of Congress.
But the allegations of irregularities related to voter list in the state are not limited to Pilibhit alone.
Commission's stand regarding EPIC number being the same
Last year, on the issue of similar EPIC numbers in 2025, the Election Commission had said that due to the old decentralized system in different states/union territories, some voters were allotted the same EPIC numbers.
According to the Commission, in such cases, the names, addresses, assembly constituencies and polling stations of the voters are different, so they can vote only at their designated booth.
However, no clear comment has come from the Commission on the question of entries of different persons on the same EPIC number in the same constituency of Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh.
SP raised the issue of duplicate entries in the voter list
Image Source: Samajwadi Party/Facebook
Earlier, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav had also raised the issue of duplicate entries in the voter list.
The party claimed that it checked the final voter lists of 100 assembly seats in the state and found instances of the same person's name being recorded at more than one place.
Samajwadi Party has submitted a seven-page memorandum to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in the matter of duplicate voters and has demanded investigation of the voter list of all 403 assembly seats.
After which, on October 19, Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Navdeep Rinwa also took action on the complaint.
He instructed the District Election Officers to identify such cases through BLOs and take action to remove duplicate names through Form-7 as per the rules.
He also said that action will be taken if negligence on the part of officials is found in the investigation.
After this, when some journalists raised the issue of duplication on social media, the Commission in its clarification said that their investigation is ongoing.
For example, Fact Checker journalist Zubair Ahmed questioned why there were duplicate entries in the voter list even after the SIR was completed, even though the main objective of the SIR was to eliminate this deficiency. He also questioned the alleged misuse of Form-7, which is used to remove names from the voter list.
On this, it was told from the official X handle of UP CEC that they have received both these complaints from major political parties of the state and the work of removing duplicate names is going on.
Where did the matter start?
Although opposition parties have been raising questions on the SIR process for a long time, the latest controversy intensified after a report by The Reporters Collective on October 6.
The report titled 'The Mysterious 16.18 Lakh Voters Added to UP Roll' raised questions that 84.3 lakh new voters were added to the final voter list of UP, while the details of only 71.38 lakh Form-6 applications were available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer.
According to the report, the Election Commission had also mentioned 16.18 lakh Form-6 applications, the complete details of which were not public.
The BBC does not independently verify these claims of the Reporters Collective.
The next day, on October 7, UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa clarified that these 16.18 lakh applications were submitted by the BLO during the SIR from those eligible people whose names were not in the current voter list.
He said that the details to be made public were available on the website as per the rules and there were no irregularities in the process.
However, The Reporters Collective, in its next report, raised questions about the Commission's clarity regarding the rules for making public the details of applications.
The Commission is continuously giving answers to the questions being raised on it on the X platform.
UP MLC elections- BJP also spoke on the strange names in the voter list, orders for investigation
Elections were held on 11 MLC seats in the state on October 23, even before this, questions were being raised regarding irregularities in the voter list.
This time, along with Samajwadi Party, BJP also made complaints. These complaints were related to unusual names and other information of such voters. Some voter slips of MLC elections also surfaced on social media, in which there were some names which made no sense.
For example, the name of one voter was recorded as 'Takkar Marna' and the name of another was recorded as 'Ram Ne Yadav Ko Mara'. At some places, instead of the voter's father's name, 'Moorkh Chandra Yadav' was found written and at other places 'B.Com' was found written. Some voters also complained that polling booths were given far away from their homes.
On these complaints, UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa ordered investigation. On October 23, he told that out of 14.81 lakh entries in the voter list of MLC elections, irregularities were found in 158.
According to the Commission, during online registration, the software used to transcribe names from English to Hindi, in some cases instead of writing the name in the same way, changed its meaning in Hindi.
For this reason, a name like 'Ramhit Yadav' gets translated as 'Ram killed Yadav'. The Commission held both software glitches and negligence of employees responsible for this and sought answers from the concerned officials.
Also said that no voter will be stopped from voting due to minor writing or printing mistakes, provided his identity can be established.
Timeline- UP SIR
October 27, 2025- SIR started in UP.
January 6, 2026- Draft voter list released, 12,55,56,025 voters were registered in the draft.
April 10, 2026- Final voter list released. 13,39,84,792 voters were registered in the final list. Increase of about 84.29 lakh as compared to the draft list.
12 November to 11 December - Under SSR, claims and objections can be lodged for adding, deleting or correcting details in the voter list.
January 4, 2027- Final list will be released after SSR.
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
Download the new BBC World Service app
Choose BBC News Hindi and get news alerts, live TV, podcasts... all in one place
Please note: The new app is not available in the UK and US.
Learn more
short video
end of short video
