After the opposition alliance performed poorly in the Bihar Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party has increased its criticism of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the Election Commission of helping the ruling party by manipulating the SIR process. He claimed there were serious irregularities and called it “a major scam.”
Akhilesh said that in many Assembly seats where his party is strong, almost fifty thousand names are being removed from voter lists. “Such preparations are happening in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal,” he said. He added that the party now has to deal with this issue through paperwork. “We are entangled in SIR right now. We have to fight the paper battle as well and we have to win elections,” he told reporters.
He also took a swipe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s clothing style. Without naming him directly, Akhilesh said he is ready to jump into the political fight whenever needed, but some people “would not even be able to jump because of their attire.”
Akhilesh made these remarks on the eighty fifth birth anniversary of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. He also criticised the Election Commission’s functioning during previous by elections and said large-scale voter deletions had already taken place in 2022. He demanded that the Election Commission issue clear instructions to political parties on how to manage SIR, and asked for more time to complete the process. “Uttar Pradesh is the biggest state and there are four hundred fifteen days left for the Assembly election. There is a conspiracy to remove more than fifty thousand names from every Assembly seat in UP and West Bengal,” he said. “We are prepared for this. We will work hard to save democracy.”
Akhilesh rejected the Election Commission’s claim that ninety nine percent of people had received the counting form. He said BLOs were not visiting Dalit and Muslim localities. “BLOs sit at the houses of ruling party leaders and distribute forms from there,” he alleged. He also said that Booth Level Agents of political parties were not getting any training in Uttar Pradesh. According to him, BLOs are facing so much pressure that some have taken their own lives in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. “There is no preparation. BLOs are being pressured,” he said.
Akhilesh accused the government of corruption and claimed it was no longer focused on real issues. He said the government talks about cleaning rivers, promises that the Ganga will reach Bengal, or discusses Vision 2047, but avoids the problems people face today. Calling the Union government a failure, he said it had failed “on every issue from the value of the dollar to foreign policy.” He added that everything is controlled by big industrialists. Referring to a recent incident, he said, “We lost one pilot, and if we say something, they call us traitors.”
