The Congress Wednesday alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, claiming that more than 16,000 voter entries had been affected in the Pilibhit Sadar Assembly constituency alone. The party said it was examining similar “discrepancies” in other constituencies and would explore legal options.On Monday, UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa had directed officials to identify and ensure resolution of duplicate entries on priority “to make the draft electoral roll to be published on November 12 error-free”. “Such voters should be identified through Booth Level Officers, and prompt resolution of cases related to duplicate entries should be ensured by having them fill out Form-7 as per rules,” he had said.Addressing the media, AICC general secretary in-charge of UP, Rajendra Pal Gautam, cited Pilibhit Sadar (constituency number 127) as an example of what he alleged were discrepancies between the draft and subsequent electoral rolls.Gautam alleged that after the draft SIR list was published in April, the names of 13,150 voters were changed between July and September despite their Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and serial numbers remaining unchanged.“Congress workers checked the entries on the ground and found that the EPIC numbers and serial numbers were the same as those in the draft list, but the actual names had changed,” he alleged. He further claimed that 804 voters listed as missing had been removed from the rolls even though they were still living in the constituency. In addition, around 2,600 names had allegedly been added despite the individuals concerned not living in the area, he claimed.The party claimed that the discrepancies affected more than 16,000 voter entries in a single constituency. Congress leaders said they had prepared a booth-wise list of the alleged changes and would use it to pursue the matter.Story continues below this adCongress leader Supriya Shrinate alleged that the scale of the discrepancies was significant given the electoral arithmetic in Pilibhit Sadar. She said the seat was won by BJP minister Sanjay Gangwar by a margin of around 6,930 votes.“Pilibhit has around 3.48 lakh voters. These changes in names were made when Form 6 was not being used, yet 13,150 names were changed despite the EPIC numbers being correct,” Shrinate alleged.She said the changes could prevent genuine voters from exercising their franchise if their names did not match the electoral records on polling day. Shrinate further alleged that a majority of the names changed during the period belonged to members of the Muslim community.The Congress demanded judicial intervention, with Shrinate calling on the Supreme Court to stop and reject the SIR process.Story continues below this adJean Drèze, Yogendra Yadav write | Let’s not be in denial — disenfranchisement in realUP Congress president Aradhana Misra said the party will pursue the matter through legal channels and take the issue to the streets across the state. “The party will go to court against this entire fraud. Just as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are fighting to save democracy in Delhi, Congress will fight this issue in every district of Uttar Pradesh,” she said.Misra said the party was preparing to examine whether similar discrepancies had occurred elsewhere in the state. “We are attempting to get such instances checked in other places as well,” she said.The Congress said its booth-wise compilation would form the basis of its next steps.