Lucknow,

16 Feb (HS): Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party (SP), accused

large-scale anomalies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral

registers on Monday and urged punishment against those involved, as well as

more transparency. Addressing a news conference at the party's headquarters,

Yadav stated that the SP will request time from the Election Commission and

send a memorandum on Tuesday, seeking it to explain the procedures under which

FIRs should be launched and punishment taken if anybody is found guilty of

misconduct. Questioning why the poll panel had not acted yet, Yadav stated that

after meeting with the Commission, the party will raise the issue in the

Assembly. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister ordered that the process of removing

names through Form 7 be commenced solely by the booth level officer (BLO) and

not by any other source.

He

also requested that facts, such as the Assembly constituency, booth number, and

individual who submitted Form 7, be made public. The SP leader further claimed

that names of party supporters were being erased fraudulently, and that the

Election Commission had supplied them with very little information.

He said that in Sakaldiha, 16 voters' names were removed after suspected

fraudulent signatures were submitted in the name of an SP MLA. He said that an

examination of those votes would reveal that they were members of the PDA

(backwards, Dalit, and minority) populations. Yadav read out the names of

various voters, their booth numbers, and details of the Form 7 applications

allegedly used to remove them, claiming that approximately 100 votes were

erased at booth no. 365 in the Babaganj Assembly constituency using fake

signatures.

The

SP's chief stated that the party had been giving data on unjust removals for

several days, but no action had been done. He also mentioned the instance of

Nandlal, stating that BJP activists collected his signatures for Form 7 despite

the fact that he utilized a thumb impression. Yadav questioned whether any

action had been taken against district authorities.

Yadav

stated that in Bhojipura, even an SP booth-level agent's vote was removed,

citing similar incidents elsewhere. He further stated that a secret conference

of the Bharatiya Janata Party resolved to target constituencies won by the SP

and erase voters' names there, a scheme he claimed was being carried out at the

Assembly and booth levels.

He

said that an unknown BJP leader indicated that 3 lakh votes had been eliminated

in Kannauj and that more will be withdrawn in other districts. Yadav further

claimed that in Ballia's Sikandarpur Assembly constituency, represented by SP

MLA Mohammad Ziauddin Rizvi, the MLA's wife's vote had been invalidated. He

accused the BJP of attempting to deflect attention away from concerns like as

inflation, unemployment, farmer difficulties, peace and order, trade

agreements, the falling rupee, rising gold and silver prices, and a lack of

genuine investment in the state, despite boasts of Rs 50 lakh crore in

Memoranda of Understanding. Citing Form 7 numbers, Yadav stated that the SP

submitted only 47 such forms in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP filed 1,729, and unknown

persons filed 1,28,659 forms.

Yadav

said that these unnamed individuals were related to the BJP and that the

adoption of such identities was designed to evade responsibility. He stated

that voters should not be bullied because of logical differences. A person

working in the city does not have time to explain why his grandparents are 40

years apart or whether it is a digital error. If all documentation have been

filed, the government must explain why such problems are occurring, he stated. Yadav

cautioned that the statistics he quoted may differ somewhat because official

data changes and grows on a regular basis. When asked by a reporter if he felt

the EC was under BJP pressure, Yadav replied the EC should display the BJP flag

at its office.

In

response to another question, Akhilesh stated that they (the BJP) merely want

to win elections and abolish democracy. They want to erase the memory of BR

Ambedkar and those who gave their lives for this nation since they did not sing

Vande Mataram before independence and had to wait so long to sing it

thereafter. In a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Yadav added, Bisht

ji should question his pals when they last sang Vande Mataram!”

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi