Lucknow, Oct 16 Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday questioned the rationale behind the Election Commission’s Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the BJP resorts to electoral malpractice when it faces the prospect of defeat.
Addressing reporters at the SP headquarters here, Yadav asked why another revision was needed after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had been conducted.
He said the SP was not opposed to SIR or SSR but would resist alleged manipulation of electoral rolls. He urged the Election Commission to conduct only one revision and avoid repeated exercises.
Yadav alleged collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, claiming that complaints about voters registered at multiple locations had not led to action against election officials.
The SP chief claimed that a man named Vikas Yadav had his name registered at 12 places in the electoral rolls. He alleged that while the man would vote at only one location, BJP workers could cast votes in his name elsewhere.
The Election Commission has announced SSR in 17 states, including Uttar Pradesh, to update electoral rolls by adding new voters and including eligible names left out of the lists.
Yadav also alleged that the BJP wanted to manipulate elections because sections of its own voter base were moving away from the party.
Referring to the Ayodhya Ram temple trust, he claimed that alleged theft of temple funds had angered devotees. He also said farmers, women, the middle class and members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha were unhappy with the BJP.
Questioning the BJP’s push for ‘One Nation, One Election’, Yadav alleged that the party wanted to carry out all electoral malpractices at once and avoid being held accountable in repeated elections.
On law and order, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister alleged that murders were taking place across the state.
Yadav also welcomed former minister and former Rajya Sabha member Rajpal Saini and several others into the SP. He expressed confidence that the party would form a government representing its PDA (backward classes, Dalits and minorities) grouping after the next Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
(PTI News)
