Akhilesh Yadav: UP’s small mafias merged into mega-mafia

New Delhi

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the Election Commission of deliberately deleting the names of voters from backward communities, alleging bias in favour of the ruling BJP. Speaking at the Parliament complex, Yadav claimed that voters from communities like Maurya, Pal, Bhagel, and Rathore were being removed from electoral rolls to benefit the BJP.

The truth is their votes are being deleted. This has happened before, but it is clearly aimed at cutting the votes of backward classes while making it seem otherwise, Yadav said. He added that his party had already identified constituencies where narrow defeats were linked to such deletions and demanded access to voter lists in the proper format to highlight more cases.

Yadav also criticised the Election Commission for failing to take action against officials responsible for irregularities. Since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, not a single officer has been punished, no matter how many complaints are filed. This shows the EC is biased, he said.

He further alleged that a BJP legislator had created 400 fake votes at her booth, forcing the SP to get over 200 removed. Yadav questioned why the EC does not conduct proper verification and also objected to alleged caste-based appointments of Booth Level Officers and presiding officers, claiming officials were being selected to favour the ruling party.

Our demand is simple: don’t appoint election officials based on caste, and hold accountable those responsible for voter deletions, he concluded, emphasising fairness in the electoral process.