Row over affidavits: Samajwadi Party likens EC to Dhritarashtra

Lucknow, Aug 25 (PTI) Intensifying its attack on the Election Commission over alleged voter list anomalies in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls, the Samajwadi Party on Monday likened the poll body to Dhritarashtra -- a character in the Mahabharata -- and accused it of supporting the BJP in the elections.

Responding to the charges, the UP chief electoral officer asked the opposition party to provide the original copies of all the 18,000 affidavits of voters regarding which a complaint was made to the EC, saying that till now only scanned copies of 3,919 affidavits have been received through email.

In a post on X in Hindi, the SP Media Cell said, "The entire assembly elections of 2022, all the bye-elections were looted at the behest of the BJP government and the Election Commission like Dhritarashtra remained involved in the dishonesty by giving silent support to the BJP." "What action was taken on those more than 18,000 affidavits and complaints expressed by the public? On the contrary, there were also reports of threatening the complainants, which is extremely shameful. The public has completely lost faith in the Election Commission," the SP said.

In another post on X, the party's media cell said, "When the opposition says something, you people don't even take cognizance, leave alone taking action on the legitimate doubts raised by the opposition." "When will the DM and SDM involved in electoral dishonesty with the BJP be suspended and when will action be taken against them under the sections of treason, because electoral dishonesty is a direct violation of the Constitution and falls under the category of treason," the post said.

Responding to the charges, the chief electoral officer (CEO) in a post in Hindi on X said, "As has been informed in the previous post that instead of 18,000 affidavits of persons, till now only scanned copies of 3919 affidavits have been received through email. It is possible that while sending the email, your office has been able to save the scanned copies of only 3919 affidavits in various attached folders instead of 18,000 by mistake." "It is requested that the original copies of all the 18,000 affidavits of the 18,000 voters regarding which a complaint was made to the Election Commission of India by your party through email should be provided to the office of the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh or to the office of the district election officer of the concerned district or to the electoral registration officer of the concerned assembly constituency as per convenience, so that the investigation process can proceed faster," the UP CEO said.

The CEO also told the SP to obtain a receipt from the concerned office as proof after handing over affidavits to the officials. "Necessary instructions in this regard have been given to all District Election Officers (DEOs) and all Electoral Registration Officers (EROs)." On August 21, SP president Akhilesh Yadav had accused the BJP and election authorities of trying to manipulate records, saying that out of 18,000 affidavits submitted by his party, only 14 had received what he called "half-baked and baseless" clarifications.

Yadav has been targeting the EC over alleged voter list anomalies in the 2022 assembly polls, claiming the poll body and district magistrates are now in a confrontation over the issue.

District magistrates of Jaunpur, Kasganj and Barabanki have publicly refuted his charges of wrongful deletion of voters' names.

Yadav has repeatedly alleged that officials are working under pressure from the ruling BJP to obstruct the SP's electoral preparations, a charge the BJP has denied. PTI NAV KVK KVK