The Congress party’s escalating allegations of “vote-chori” by the BJP and the Election Commission stand in sharp contrast to its limited ground presence during Uttar Pradesh’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The revision process, which began on November 4 and will continue until February 2026, requires Booth Level Officers to conduct door-to-door verification of voter details. Political parties are expected to deploy trained Booth Level Agents at every polling booth to oversee the exercise, raise objections, and ensure transparency.
However, data accessed by India Today shows that the Congress has managed to appoint only 16,538 BLAs across Uttar Pradesh—an extremely low figure compared to other major parties. The BJP currently has 1,56,015 BLAs in place, the Samajwadi Party 1,12,309, and the BSP 1,00,169. Smaller outfits such as Apna Dal (S) and CPI(M) have also deployed more agents than the Congress, despite their far smaller organisational footprint. Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa confirmed the disparity, noting that more than four lakh BLAs from various parties have been registered so far, though no party has achieved complete booth coverage yet. The BJP leads the deployment, followed by the SP and the BSP.
The Congress’s weak presence has opened it to attacks from political opponents, who argue that the party’s rhetoric about voter-list manipulation is undermined by its failure to participate robustly in the monitoring process. BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that Congress leaders continue to make sweeping accusations while neglecting the most basic mechanism available to safeguard the process on the ground. Internal voices within the Congress have admitted that organisational weaknesses in Uttar Pradesh have affected mobilisation efforts, as the party continues to rebuild its cadre base in the state.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has taken a more systematic approach, reportedly training its workers under its PDA framework to act as vigilant monitors throughout the revision period. With the final electoral roll scheduled for publication in February 2026, the Congress’s inability to deploy BLAs at scale raises questions about its preparedness for the 2027 Assembly elections — and about the consistency of its claims regarding widespread manipulation. These questions have become sharper after the Bihar Assembly election results, where the Congress won just six out of 61 seats and again alleged large-scale voter-list rigging by the BJP and the NDA.
