EC must provide Rs 1 crore compensation for deaths linked to SIR drive: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday demanded that the Election Commission provide Rs 1 crore as compensation to individuals who, he alleged, lost their lives due to mental and physical stress during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh.

In a post on X, Yadav claimed that several people involved in the revision exercise were facing extreme pressure, which had led to tragic incidents.

He announced that the SP would also extend financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the families of each deceased person.

“This is a direct appeal to the Election Commission to grant compensation of Rs 1 crore for those losing their lives due to mental and physical distress during the Special Intensive Revision. We, too, commit to providing Rs 2 lakh to the dependents of every deceased,” Yadav said in the post in Hindi.

Yadav also posted a video of a news report from Fatehpur, where a lekhpal allegedly died by suicide a day before his wedding due to alleged excessive work pressure and denial of leave.

Police said the body of Sudhir Kumar, posted in the Khajua block of Bindki tehsil, was found hanging in his room on Tuesday morning.

Sudhir had recently been assigned supervisory responsibilities for the SIR exercise in the Jahanabad Assembly segment, a task colleagues claimed put him under “extraordinary pressure”.