Yogendra Yadav Calls Deletion Of 2.89 Crore Voters In Uttar Pradesh 'Unprecedented'

This special report on India Today, hosted by Preeti Choudhry, examines the controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Swaraj India co-founder Yogendra Yadav highlights a staggering exclusion, stating, 'exclusion of 2 crore 89 lakh voters is unprecedented in human history, not just Indian history'. The panel, including BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari and TMC Spokesperson Tauseef Rahman, debates the scale of deletions in states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. While Rahman alleges the Election Commission has become a 'WhatsApp commission' operating through informal channels, Bhandari defends the process as a necessary cleanup of 'dead voters' and 'illegal infiltrators'. Political analyst Rajat Sethi notes that the current lists are drafts with a window for corrections. The discussion explores the discrepancy between state and central election data, with Yadav pointing out that rural Uttar Pradesh alone reportedly has more voters than the ECI's total for the entire state. The programme analyzes the potential for mass disenfranchisement ahead of the January 15 deadline.