Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for defending the Election Commission (EC), alleging that it was involved in “vote theft” and electoral irregularities.
We complained, but no action was taken against any official or employee. He also accused the BJP government of favouring capitalists and neglecting farmers, youth and the poor, while alleging that inflation and corruption had increased. “A chief minister who cannot save his own village, city and town — what development can he do for the state? He should have learnt something from the development of Saifai. In Gorakhpur, where he was announcing a Metro rail, people are having to use boats. He also criticised the government’s handling of flooding and drainage in Prayagraj, Varanasi and Lucknow, questioning the outcome of expenditure on related infrastructure.
“In 2017, we did not understand it. In the 2022 elections, we saw a large number of Samajwadi Party supporters’ votes being deleted. Yadav said senior SP leaders would attend the INDIA bloc meeting on September 30 as he would be busy with another programme.
He claimed that the SP had repeatedly lodged complaints with the Election Commission over “vote theft” and electoral malpractices, but no action was taken. “There were large-scale irregularities in the Rampur by-election and subsequent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, where voters were prevented from exercising their franchise, names were deleted, and officials were posted arbitrarily, yet the EC remained silent,” the SP chief said. Yadav said such issues had been raised for several years. Now that reports of irregularities are appearing on the front pages, people are beginning to understand that vote theft and electoral fraud are taking place,” he said. Calling for judicial intervention, Yadav said courts should take cognisance of reports of alleged electoral irregularities and consider ordering fresh elections in West Bengal and Bihar. He said former Election Commission officials had also raised concerns and were speaking from experience. He said he had already spoken to the Congress president about the meeting. Linking urban waterlogging to alleged corruption, he said large sums had been spent without adequately addressing drainage problems. That is their development,” Yadav said.
