Lucknow, Feb 8 (IANS) Ahead of the start of the Budget Session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav held a meeting with his MLAs at the party headquarters. During the meeting, he outlined the party’s strategy to corner the government during the session. Along with organisational issues, the alleged irregularities in the electoral process were also discussed at length.

After the meeting, Akhilesh Yadav said that the SP had raised serious questions in a previous press conference regarding Form-7. He alleged that the government has hired certain professional agencies whose personnel are analysing the entire voter list data from locations including Delhi and Lucknow.

He claimed that these agencies are identifying booths where the Samajwadi Party has traditionally won elections and are then sending printed Form-7 applications in large numbers to remove the names of voters associated with those booths. He further alleged that protests have erupted at several places over this issue.

The SP chief said he received information related to this matter through media reports, YouTube channels, and journalists reporting from the ground. Thanking journalists and those associated with digital media, he said many reporters responsibly went to the field and informed the public about the alleged irregularities in the electoral process. He claimed that such ground reporting has exposed how the BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission, is allegedly manipulating elections.

Yadav said this was not a new phenomenon. He alleged that elections in Bihar were won through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which, according to him, played a major role in vitiating the atmosphere, exerting pressure and influencing voters.

Raising questions over the impartiality of the Election Commission, he said similar allegations have been made in the context of Bihar and West Bengal. Referring to recent by-elections, he said the situation witnessed raises serious concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission.

He further said that the West Bengal government and its Chief Minister have repeatedly alleged that the Election Commission has become a “BJP commission.” Similar attempts, he claimed, are being made in West Bengal as well. He said the state government and the Chief Minister were forced to approach the Supreme Court over alleged discriminatory conduct by the Election Commission, which he claimed had become a collaborator of the BJP.

Yadav demanded an immediate halt to what he described as the planned misuse of Form-7, strict action against those responsible, and urged the Election Commission to prove its impartiality. Otherwise, he warned, it would amount to a direct attack on democracy.

–IANS

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