Now EC, UP DMs in confrontation over deletion of voters' names: Akhilesh

Lucknow/Firozabad, Aug 20 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday sharpened his attack on the Election Commission over alleged voter list anomalies in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, claiming that the poll body and district magistrates are now in a confrontation over the issue.

His remarks came a day after the district magistrates of Jaunpur, Kasganj and Barabanki publicly refuted his charges of wrongful deletion of voters' names.

In separate posts on X, the officials cited individual complaints to assert that deletions had been carried out as per rules and in some cases the names continued to exist in the rolls.

Yadav, however, rejected their explanations and questioned the "sudden activism" of the officials.

"Why have the DMs responded after so many years? Their replies prove that the Election Commission's claim that no affidavits were received was false. If there were no affidavits, what are these district magistrates replying to now?" he said in a post on X.

Later, talking to reporters in Firozabad's Tundla, the SP president said, "The Election Commission was saying till now that it had not received any affidavits regarding deleted voters' names, while DMs are saying they have received them. We had submitted affidavits for 18,000 voters. Now the DMs will file reports and the Election Commission will have to decide." Yadav maintained that "superficial responses" by the officials amounted to an admission of involvement, which he said should be probed.

"Either the Election Commission or the DMs are lying. The court must take cognisance," he said, alleging that the BJP, the poll body and local officials formed a "triad" that "hijacked democracy".

Reiterating his charge that the "trio" was undermining the democratic process, Yadav cited instances from Rampur and Kundarki bypolls.

"Everyone saw in Rampur how people were stopped from voting. In the Kundarki bypoll, 80 per cent of the votes cast were shown in favour of the BJP. This collusion is weakening democracy," the former CM said.

He further claimed that records of voting were being suppressed to shield the ruling party.

"...the BJP fears that the identity of policemen in plain clothes who voted in the bypolls will be revealed, so the recordings are not being shown," he alleged.

Turning to agrarian issues, Yadav said farmers in the state were facing acute shortages of fertilisers, including urea.

"Farmers in Ayodhya and other districts are standing in long queues for fertilisers but are not getting supplies. Instead, lathis are being used on them. The government is failing both in ensuring fertiliser supply and in maintaining law and order," he said.

He also accused the BJP of reneging on its promise to double farmers' incomes.

"The BJP had promised to double farmers' income. Instead, farmers have remained where they were. They are not getting fair prices for potatoes, maize, paddy, mustard or other crops," he said.

The SP leader said, "In a democracy, when dictators get nervous, they take arbitrary decisions to save their chairs. But no dictator in history, ”whether in Germany, Italy or Russia, ”has been able to save his chair forever." PTI KIS KVK KVK