Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], August 10 : Amidst a row that erupted over Bihar Special Intensive revision, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav raised concerns over alleged bogus voting and irregularities during the recent Uttar Pradesh by-elections.
Speaking to ANI, the Samajwadi Party chief alleged "bogus voting" and "vote loot" in the by-elections conducted on nine seats of Uttar Pradesh in November 2024.
Urging the Election Commission to look into the matter, Yadav stated that if the polling body terminates or suspends the DMs of the districts where the by-polls were held, there would be zero discrepancies in the voter list.
The SP chief asserted that the Election Commission and the government should make solid arrangements to avoid "bogus voting."
He said, "Regarding this 'vote' matter, when you have so many resources available, the Election Commission and Government should have solid arrangements in place, so that there is no bogus voting. Since the BJP was an expert in manipulating votes, they managed to arrange the maximum number of bogus votes. When they ran short of votes to win, they pushed forward the Police. The Election Commission should look at the UP by-election first of all... If the DMs of the districts where the by-polls were held are suspended or terminated, there would be no discrepancies in the voter list, there would be no bogus voting, nobody's name would be deleted..."
Asked about RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's claims that Bihar Deputy CM Vijay Sinha has two EPIC numbers, Akhilesh Yadav accused the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of facilitating "vote loot" in the state, saying, "...If their Deputy CM has two EPIC numbers, here the CM was facilitating vote loot. The CM here was facilitating booth loot..."
Alleging interference by officials during voting, the SP chief said, "In Ayodhya, who were the Education Department officials who were delegating duty to others? In Mirapur, Kundarki, the Commissioner, SSP and DM were going around with force to make sure that people did not step out to vote. Did we not see a revolver being aimed at women? Was the Election Commission sleeping? That is why we had gone to offer them a white 'chadar'. When officers become criminals to loot votes, who will take action?..."
Yadav also expressed his dissatisfaction over the ongoing three-day session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
He said, "Why are they convening a three-day session? They should have conducted a three-hour session. I object to running the House proceedings for 24 hours. You did no work in 9 years, and now you want people to stay awake for 24 hours. What madness is this?"