New Delhi: On October 16, 2026, senior Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader from Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district, Sudhindra Bhadoria, took to social media platform X, alleging that the names of almost his entire family have been struck off during the state’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.“It is indeed troubling that despite repeatedly requesting the BLO (Booth Level Officer), the names of my family members have been struck off and are not being included [in the voter list] now. This is my request to Etawah’s SDM [Sub-Divisional Magistrate] that in order to strengthen the Constitution and democracy, this mistake be corrected”, Bhadoria, a former national spokesperson of BSP wrote on X.Speaking to The Wire on phone, Bhadoria, who has been fairly critical of the Yogi Adityanath regime in the state as well as the BJP-led government at the Union, said:Initially the BLOs were not accessible, which is also understandable. When I was finally able to speak with a BLO, he informed me that there was no one present at the house when they had visited during the SIR process. I immediately told him that it’s not like people at that residential address stay there all the time. We have been politically associated with this place and also own agricultural land in the area. I hope that they rectify this mistake.In UP, over 2 crore names had been removed from the voter list in the final list published by the State Election Commission earlier in April 2026.As shown in the recent Wire Analysis on UP SIR, among 2.86 crore of the electors on the draft roll who were sent a notice, the younger electors carried most of the burden – 39% of those under 40 were noticed against 15% of those aged 40 and over.It is, therefore, not surprising that along with Bhadoria’s wife, social activist Ranjna Kumari, the names of their son and daughter, too, are missing in the final voter list published in April. The family came to know about the botch-up by the local BLO only a month ago and have since then been requesting various authorities to ensure that their names be added back to the voter list.When The Wire reached out to BLO Saurabh Kumar, who is the in-charge of Etawah’s Katra Bal Singh area, he told this reporter, “When I had gone to their [Bhadoria’s] house, I had given four forms to the people working there but got back only one completely filled form on behalf of Sudhindra Bhadoria. Now we have given them the requisite form and once ID proofs are submitted this will be taken care of.”“Since they don’t stay here, we couldn’t establish contact with the family. Ultimately, we didn’t receive any ID proof that could establish their residential address to be that of Etawah”, Kumar added, when asked about why no verification was done by the BLO in case of Bhadoria’s wife, whose name was present in the 2003 voter list, considered to be the base line for the ongoing SIR process.Bhadoria, on his part, who has now submitted Form 6 on behalf of his wife and kids, isn’t convinced with the official explanation and instead points fingers at the faulty enumeration process.“My lineage with respect to this place [Etawah] is 150-200 years old. Both my parents have been MPs from this district, I have contested elections from here too. When someone like me is facing such a situation, imagine the plight of common people”, said Bhadoria, while talking to The Wire.I have spent time in prison along with Mulayam Singh Yadav during the emergency in Etawah. My parents were part of the freedom struggle. So be it the cause related to freedom or democracy we have been at the forefront now when it comes to exercising our voting rights where are we supposed to go?In his defence, Bhadoria also shared cover of a book published by the National Book Trust of India, which mentions his father’s name, Arjun Singh Bhadoria, as a freedom fighter who fought against the British in 1942 and also made it to the Parliament subsequently in 1957, 1967 and 1977 from the Etawah Lok Sabha seat.In April, UP’s Chief Electoral Officer, Navdeep Rinwa, had spoken about the additions in the electoral rolls in certain districts with Prayagraj (with 3,29,421 voters) recording the highest increase in the number of voters followed by Lucknow (2,85,961 voters), Bareilly (2,57,000 voters), Ghaziabad (2,43,666 voters) and Jaunpur (2,37,590 voters).Such claims regarding addition of names in the electoral rolls followed after CM Yogi Adityanath had cautioned party workers against “a gap of four crore missing voters” in December 2025.However, even in the claims and objection phase ahead of the publication of the final voter list in UP, during ground reporting in January 2026, this reporter had come across various anomalies in certain Muslim-dominated areas of Prayagraj constituency, such as Khuldabad and rural parts of Phulpur, which had witnessed the second highest deletion of over 11 lakh voters.In midst of the ongoing protests in the capital city of Delhi, seeking resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of wrongful deletions, at another press conference in Lucknow held on October 16, 2026, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the UP SIR as he presented an individual named Vikas Yadav who has been reportedly listed as a voter at ten different addresses.“How come 13 crore names have been deleted across the country? I’m ready to submit an affidavit if needed specifying that I’m a bonafide resident of this place”, said Bhadoria, as he gears up for yet another special voter registration drive, beginning from October 17, which is being organised by the state election commission for inclusion of those names missed earlier.The Wire had reached out to Etawah’s SDM Manoj Pathak and DM Shubhrant Kumar Shukla on their official number but there was no response at the time of writing this story.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.