New Delhi: The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh has directed legal action against two electoral officials in the Pilibhit assembly constituency and removed them from voter list duties after an internal probe confirmed discrepancies, wherein searching the EPIC numbers of certain voters online displayed the details of other individuals.The Pilibhit assembly constituency was among the 100 seats in UP where the Samajwadi Party (SP) recently claimed to have found a large number of duplicate voters in the voter roll. The party had submitted a complaint to the CEO on October 12.Uttar Pradesh CEO Navdeep Rinwa further directed all district election officers (DEO) across the state to conduct a thorough review of the voter lists in all assembly constituencies regarding this issue and to furnish a report within two days. The DEO of Pilibhit was also asked to submit a detailed report following a comprehensive review of the voter lists across all assembly constituencies in the district.The Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) action on Wednesday (October 21) came hours after the Congress party alleged that it had found major irregularities involving more than 16,000 voter entries in the voter list of the Pilibhit Sadar assembly seat alone. The party alleged that even after the final draft of the electoral roll for UP was released on April 10, 2026, names associated with 13,510 voters were subsequently altered between July and September, even though their EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) numbers and serial numbers remained unchanged.EPIC numbers remain unchanged but names changedSP state president Shyam Lal Pal had earlier, on Monday (October 19), submitted a written complaint to the CEO stating that in the Pilibhit Sadar Assembly constituency, an online search for the EPIC numbers of many registered voters revealed the details of entirely different individuals.For instance, at booth number 409, voter serial number 220 was registered as Ashik Ali (son of Mahmood Ali, age 39, male).However, an online search for his EPIC number displayed the details of a different person: Khalil Khan (age 39, male).Similar discrepancies occurred for a large number of voters in this constituency; searching for their EPIC numbers online yielded the details of other individuals, said SP’s UP president Pal in his memorandum.“This issue – where an online search for a registered voter’s EPIC number returns the details of another person – is a matter of grave concern. The Election Commission of India must address this immediately; otherwise, thousands of voters could be disenfranchised on the day of the 2027 Assembly elections,” he said.On Wednesday, CEO Rinwa stated that he had taken cognisance of a complaint regarding a “technical discrepancy” in the voter list of the Pilibhit Assembly constituency. The matter was investigated, and according to the report received from the DEO, subsequent checks in the voter list of Pilibhit revealed that searching certain voters’ EPIC numbers online displayed the details of other voters, said the CEO.Based on that finding, Rinwa directed election officers to “immediately rectify such errors” and to forthwith remove the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Voter Registration Centre (VRO) Operator of the constituency from voter list duties.CEO directs legal action against the ERO and the VRCThe CEO also directed legal action against the ERO and the VRC under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). A clear report regarding the responsibilities of the assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) of the Pilibhit assembly constituency was also sought by the CEO.Addressing a press conference in Lucknow on Wednesday, senior Congress leaders provided a detailed breakdown of the alleged discrepancies in the voter roll of the Pilibhit Assembly seat.Sanjay Singh Gangwar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the seat in 2017 and 2022. In 2022, he defeated the Samajwadi Party candidate Shailendra Gangwar by 6,970 votes. Gangwar currently serves as a minister in the chief minister Adityanath-led UP government.Rajendra Pal Gautam, AICC in-charge of UP Congress, said that after the release of the final draft of the electoral roll for the state in April, voters would have verified their details – such as their serial number, name, address, EPIC number, and the spelling of their name – and lived under the impression that their registration was complete.However, data that emerged between July and September revealed that in the Pilibhit Assembly seat alone, the names associated with 13,150 entries were altered, even while the EPIC numbers and serial numbers remained unchanged, said Gautam.He noted that while the names were changed, the voters continue to believe they are still registered because their details appeared in the final draft. When these individuals arrive to cast their votes, they will be told that their names are missing from the electoral roll – despite possessing their EPIC cards and identification documents, said Gautam.The Congress further claimed that the names of 884 voters – who still reside in the area and have formally confirmed their continued presence – were removed. Conversely, 2,600 individuals who do not actually reside in the constituency were added to the electoral rolls. “A total of 16,554 votes were manipulated in just one assembly constituency,” said Gautam.‘Following SIR, the state of the electoral roll has deteriorated further’Supriya Shrinate, Congress national spokesperson, said that most of the altered names belonged to a particular community and were predominantly male. She was referring to Muslims, as suggested by the examples she listed from the electoral roll.Shrinate pointed out that in the draft electoral roll, the entry for an EPIC number ending in 4746 was registered under the name Mohammad Yusuf (aged 33, son of Rasital). However, the same EPIC number was now registered under the name Hasrat (aged 33, son of Ramzan Ali).In other words, while the EPIC number, age, and gender remained identical, the names of the voter and their father had been changed. Another example was that of voter Mohammad Waseem, whose EPIC number now showed as being registered under the name of Sher Mohammad.Notably, Shrinate alleged, these changes occurred in batches at different times and indicated a distinct pattern. There was a possibility that these modifications were carried out through software, she said. “This raises critical questions: How were these changes made? Under whose orders were they carried out? And who is responsible for this?” asked Shrinate.SP state president Pal said that the final electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process had become even more error-ridden.“At the time of announcing the SIR, the Election Commission of India had promised a process to ensure an accurate and error-free electoral roll; however, following the SIR, the state of the electoral roll has deteriorated further,” he said, demanding immediate rectification.SP leader accuses BJP MLA from Pilibhit of manipulating voter listHemraj Verma, former minister and a contender for the SP ticket from Pilibhit, has demanded an investigation through an independent cyber forensic agency to look into the alleged irregularities (name changes) in the records of more than 13,000 voters in the constituency.In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on Wednesday, Verma also said that the probe should include a booth-wise and group-wise analysis to determine if there was any disproportionate impact on any specific area or voter group. Verma has alleged that after the SIR, errors were being introduced in the names of approximately 25,000 Muslim voters in Pilibhit constituency, depriving them of their voting rights.Addressing a press conference in Pilibhit, Verma alleged that the changes were made on the directions of the sitting BJP MLA and minister Sanjay Gangwar, who won in 2022 with a narrow margin of less than 7,000 votes.“He (Gangwar) felt that he cannot win the next election so he conspired with his favourite officials, deploying a team of four computer experts, and manipulated the votes of the minority community at a large scale to deprive them of their voting rights,” said Verma.Verma demanded that a comparative examination of old and new names, addresses, photos, and other details in the final draft and subsequent lists be conducted along with an audit of the database trail and a probe into unauthorised changes.BJP minister Sanjay Gangwar has not yet responded to Verma’s allegations.Omar Rashid is an independent journalist.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.