Akhilesh Yadav during a press conference in Lucknow on Tuesday
Referring to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, he claimed that some voters, who had cast ballots in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, later found their names missing from electoral rolls.
Addressing a conference in Lucknow, Akhilesh said recent action by Election Commission against some officials was insufficient to address concerns over the integrity of the electoral process. He alleged that a “larger conspiracy” to influence elections could be underway and questioned the circumstances in which unfolded ballot papers were allegedly found inside ballot boxes during MLC election counting. Such things cannot happen without the involvement of the administration or officials assigned election duty,” he said.
He alleged that political parties needed to remain vigilant as larger irregularities could be concealed behind seemingly minor actions. “How can open ballot papers be found inside ballot boxes? He also revived concerns over voter-list revision exercises, alleging that genuine voters, particularly those supporting Samajwadi Party, were being selectively removed from electoral rolls. He further alleged that polling logistics could be manipulated by deploying fewer voting machines at booths where opposition support was stronger, leading to longer queues and lower turnout. He also advocated the issuance of metal Aadhaar cards, claiming they would be harder to duplicate and could strengthen identity verification.
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused BJP and the administration of attempting to manipulate elections through voter-list revisions, questioned the credibility of Election Commission and pitched for Aadhaar-linked electoral rolls to ensure free and fair polling.