Noida: It was past 2 pm when the booth set up by the Samajwadi Party outside the Panchsheel Balak Inter College polling centre in Noida’s Sector 91 wore a slightly deserted look.Earlier in the day, at around 6:30 am, in a video posted on the social media platform X, Noida district president of the Samajwadi Party Dr Ashray Gupta stood outside Panchsheel Balak Inter College alleging that the administration was allowing BJP workers to set up a booth meant for assisting the voters close to the polling centre at around 50 metres, while Samajwadi Party workers had set up a similar desk at 200 metres, as per the protocol. दायरा कल तक 200 मीटर था, वह आज घटाकर 50 मीटर कर दिया गया है। इसके चलते हुए जिला प्रसाशन पूरी तरह से चुनाव आयोग के नियमों की धजिया उड़ाते हुए मीटर पर भाजपा का टेंट रात 3 बजे 50 मीटर पर लगा दिया गया है।अगर 8 बजे तक टेंट 200 मीटर के दायरे से बाहर नहीं किया गया जो की खुलेआम चुनाव आयोग के नियमों की खुली उल्लंघन है नहीं तो समझ लीजिए कि बड़ी पार्प्रशासनिक व्यवस्था का मज़ाक बनाकर बैठे है और भाजपा के एजेंट बनकर चुनाव को एक तरफ़ा करवाना चाहता है ।@ecisveep @ceoup@dmgbnagarस्थान: पाँच बालक इंटर कॉलेज सेक्टर 91— Dr.Ashray Gupta (@ashray_gupta) October 23, 2026Panchsheel Balak Inter College was one of the polling centres under the Meerut division where the general public, both from the graduate as well as teacher constituencies, could use their right to vote during the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) polls which concluded across Uttar Pradesh (UP) on October 23. When The Wire visited this polling centre, the stark difference in the number of voters seeking aid in getting their respective voter slip outside the Samajwadi Party booth as compared to their BJP counterpart was hard to miss. More number of voters were seen flocking to the BJP booth which was in close proximity to the polling centre as compared to the kiosk set up by the Samajwadi Party.“Yesterday (October 22), the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) along with the local administration including UP Police told us that we could set up our tent at a distance of 200 metres [from the polling centre]. Accordingly we abided by the Election Commission norms. At around 3 am, the SDM alongwith local administration allowed the BJP cadres to set up their party booth at a distance of 30 metres,” said Ashray Gupta, while talking to The Wire.Ashray Gupta (centre), the Noida District President of Samajwadi Party. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.“During the MLC polls, one is not allowed to use any symbol related to a political party. But the BJP workers have been sitting with their party symbol within a radius of 30 metres. We protested against this as well. Now the Commissioner of Police has told us to submit a written complaint by evening so that necessary action can be taken against the concerned Station House Officer (SHO) for letting this happen,” Gupta added. While the BJP booth set up in support of their candidate, Dinesh Kumar Goyal for the graduate constituency, did flaunt a lotus flag which is the party’s official symbol, no such symbol of a cycle was seen outside the Samajwadi Party booth. Display of party symbols is not allowed within the restricted area of polling booths, the Noida instance being a reminder of the controversy sparked during the 2014 general elections after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flaunted a lotus symbol soon after coming out of a polling booth in Gandhinagar. The lotus flag, spotted by The Wire, within metres of the Panchsheel Balak Inter College at BJP’s booth, comes under the category of promotional material which is strictly banned within 200 metres of polling booths as per the Election Commission norms since such electioneering material is likely to influence voters. BJP booth set up in close proximity to the polling centre in Noida. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.Discrepancies in voter list and allocation of distant polling booths As reported by The Wire earlier, 24-hours before the MLC elections were scheduled to take place, multiple discrepancies in the voter list had come to light in the Allahabad-Jhansi constituency with absurd names appearing on the parchi (voter slip). When asked about whether any such absurdities were noticed in the voter lists across Noida, Gupta said: “While we are talking about the MLC polls, as far as the regular elections [referring to the forthcoming UP assembly polls] are concerned, we have flagged 25,000 duplicates and triplicates in the [SIR or Special Intensive Revision] voter list and even sent a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar but haven’t received any response till date. Similarly in the MLC polls-related voter list we noticed a single individual being listed twice or thrice along with errors in the parent’s names. So be it the MLC polls or any other election, the Election Commission does seem to be involved in a ghotala (scam).”Also read: ‘Takkar Marna’ in UP Voter List: SP Flags Errors, BJP Alleges Duplicates On Eve of MLC PollsA BJP-led delegation in Prayagraj which met the District Magistrate a few days ago had also raised concerns over duplicate entries in the MLC voter list. The only distinction between Samajwadi Party and BJP’s stand on the issue concerning voter list is the fact that the ruling party has alleged ‘names from the Muslim community and those with Yadav as surname being listed multiple times as against having one vote in the constituency.’ Another common grouse noticed among both the parties has been the allocation of a polling booth which in some cases ranges between 20-40 kilometres, making it difficult for people to travel such long distances only for casting their vote.Gaurav Yadav, Pradesh Sachiv of the Samajwadi Party. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.“The issue cropping up is that for instance in a family there are four voters for the Graduates’ MLC Constituency, two have been assigned the polling booth here [in Noida Sector 91] while the other two have been allocated the Rajkiya Degree College and a centre near the NTPC office respectively. So, this is a problem for a family which doesn’t have votes at one place,” said Gaurav Yadav, Pradesh Sachiv (State Secretary) of the Samajwadi Party, while talking to this reporter.“We don’t have evidence but during canvassing this came to our knowledge that some voters have been pressured to cast their vote. For example, a teacher from Dwarka (Delhi) had come to Noida in order to cast her vote, following a query related to ID (Identity Document) when I tried to help, someone accompanying her asked me if she didn’t vote, would that be traced? So, it was clear that such voters had been pushed into voting here,” Yadav further added.For Shankar Bidhuri, a lawyer by profession, allocation of a distant polling booth for his brother meant shuttling for approximately 40 Kms only to cast their vote.“While my sister and myself have been listed as voters here in Sector 91, the surname for my brother has been changed from our gotra name Bidhuri to Kumar while for my father, his address has been changed. And they have been allocated a polling booth in Dadri where even if they manage to go considering the errors in name and address, once tallied with the Aadhaar card it will be a mismatch,” said Shankar. ‘Karyakartas ensured 15,000 names added to the voter list’At the BJP booth outside the Panchsheel Balak Inter College, there was a constant flurry of teachers alighting from buses and walking up to the counter for their voter slip. Some party workers would also escort a voter up to the college entrance gate. When asked about allegations related to flouting of norms regarding setting up the party booth at a distance of less than 200 metres, Ravi Chandra Shrivastava, Mahamantri (General Secretary) Greater Noida Mandal of the BJP told The Wire, “We chose a designated spot after a discussion with the election officials. At night we found out that the Samajwadi Party workers had in fact shifted out temporary set-up at some distance and now they are threatening the SDM that they [Samajwadi Party workers] will protest on this issue. We have measured the distance and the main gate [of the polling centre] is not even in the line of sight.”Ravi Chandra Shrivastava BJP Mahamantri Greater Noida Mandal. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.“More number of people are coming to this booth not because of proximity to the polling centre but owing to the fact that we have enough number of karyakartas (party workers) belonging to different mandals (party cadre), who for the last one-and-a-half-year, have been working upon the Graduates’ and Teachers’ MLC Constituency. Our karyakartas led the initiative of ensuring that 15,000 voters’ names are there [in the list]”, Shrivastava added when asked about the possible undue advantage of staying close to the polling centre. A common refrain among the BJP workers at Noida’s polling centre, akin to the party leadership in the Allahabad-Jhansi division, was the issue related to duplicity of voters particularly those from the Muslim community. “Only the Rohingyas and Bangladeshi [Muslims] who had their voter ID cards being made by the Congress party for years have been removed by the Election Commission, which was hundred percent the right thing to do”, said B.L. Singh, BJP worker who is a member of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Mandal in Noida. Panchsheel Balak Inter College a polling centre under the Meerut Division. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.While speaking to The Wire on the issue of voter list, Parul Walia, a faculty member at the Amity University, who had come to the polling centre in Noida said, “If I talk about the entire Amity University, our colleagues didn’t notice any such discrepancy and the voting has been going on peacefully. It didn’t seem chaotic in any manner.”On another set of allegations by the Samajwadi Party suggesting that the voting bloc of teachers was intimidated or influenced by the ruling party, Walia said: “Not at all. If I talk about Amity University, we’ve been told to go and use our right to vote. So the motivation has been towards casting votes and not so much about leaning towards a particular candidate.”BJP flag within metres of another polling booth in Greater Noida At our second stop outside the IIT Roorkee Extension Centre in Greater Noida, a similar script seemed to be at play. While the BJP flag with the party’s official lotus symbol was mounted on a pole outside its booth within metres of the polling centre, workers belonging to the Samajwadi Party complained about not following norms regarding distance. Samajwadi Party workers have submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate regarding discrepancies in the voter list here as well which comes under the Meerut-Saharanpur division. “With respect to this booth, we had informed the DM earlier about 350 fake voters added at the behest of BJP. These included voters some of whom are registered as members of the Bar Council and have been listed as voters within the Teacher’s MLC Constituency. We also identified an individual who works at a petrol pump and has been listed as a voter in the Teacher’s MLC Constituency. We submitted evidence as well but no action was taken and now votes have also been polled,” Ruby Narang, Zila Sachiv (District Secretary) of the Samajwadi Party in Greater Noida, told The Wire.Lashing out at the state election authorities, Inder Pradhan, Samajwadi Party’s Gautam Buddh Nagar President, said, “The administration has discriminated against us. While voter names proposed by us have been cut, those names suggested by the ruling party have all been included in the list.”Samajwadi Pary workers at the booth set up near polling centre in Noida Sector-91. Photo: Akanksha Kumar.Outside BJP’s booth, as the day came to a close with polling coming to an end at 4 pm, party workers huddled together and chanted ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ along with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. Speaking to The Wire, Mukesh Dixit, Mahamantri (General Secretary) for the Greater Noida Mandal of BJP, said, “Not all voter names recommended by us were included in the list. Despite being BJP Mahamantri my name couldn’t make it to the list so, should I ask the Samajwadi Party about this now? Voter inclusion is the responsibility of the Election Commission, why should we comment on this?” BJP workers here also offered a counter explanation that Samajwadi Party volunteers had moved away from the polling centre on their own. As per the data released by UP Chief Electoral Officer, the voting percentage for MLC polls was 40.87% at 2 pm. Final figures related to voting percentage had not been released at the time of writing this report.While Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav took to X over an incident related to a Samajwadi Party worker being assaulted allegedly by BJP worker in Fatehpur, party workers also cried foul over recovery of a vote slip belonging to the BJP candidate from a Presiding Officer at the MNNIT polling centre in Prayagraj.What will be the way forward for the Samajwadi Party given that the assembly elections are near and are expected to take place based on the list prepared during the SIR exercise.When asked about the impact of recent development in Pilibhit where an FIR was lodged following an expose by the Congress party revealing 13,150 wrong entries in UP’s voter list post-SIR, Inder Pradhan told The Wire, “Our protest will continue. We have even burnt effigies of Gyanesh. For us, BJP is Gyanesh and Gyanesh is equivalent to BJP. Now that their lies have begun to come out starting from Pilibhit, they [referring to the BJP] will have to exit soon (from power).”