Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘voter-deletion’ claims collapse as UP district officials confirm names belong to dead, duplicate or still-registered voters
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also joined the chorus of the INDI Alliance leaders against the Election Commission of India. Recently, he accused the election body of removing the names of the backward and the most backward class voters, which form Yadav’s party’s vote base, from the electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh in collusion with the ruling BJP.
During a demonstration in Parliament on Monday (18th August), Yadav distributed copies of affidavits he claimed to have filed with the Election Commission alleging targeted deletion of voters from the voter list in Uttar Pradesh. Speaking to the media, Yadav claimed that he filed around 18,000 affidavits with the poll body pointing out discrepancies in the voter lists in constituencies such as Amapur, Bakshi Ka Talab, Jaunpur Sadar and Kursi.
He also posted copies of the receipts received in response to the affidavits, alleging that the Commission had wrongly denied receiving any complaints/affidavits regarding vote deletion. “The Election Commission is claiming that they have not received the affidavits provided by the Samajwadi Party in UP; they should check the acknowledgment receipt issued by their own office as proof of receipt of our affidavits. This time, we demand that the Election Commission provide an affidavit stating that the digital receipt sent to us is authentic, otherwise, not only the ‘Election Commission’ but also ‘Digital India’ will come under suspicion. If BJP goes, truth will prevail!,” Yadav wrote on X on Sunday (17th August).
Akhilesh Yadav got fact-checked
However, Yadav’s allegations of targeted deletion of votes were refuted by the District Magistrates of various districts in Uttar Pradesh. Responding to Yadav’s allegations, DM Jaunpur said that a complaint was received via email alleging erroneous deletion of names of five voters in the Jaunpur Assembly Constituency 366 in the Jaunpur district. The DM said that the complaint was baseless as the names of the five voters had passed away before 2022. Their names were removed after their death was confirmed by their family members, locals and the local councillor.
DM Barabanki also countered Yadav’s accusations of malicious vote deletion and clarified that the complaints about the deletion of the names of 2 voters of the 266-Kursi Assembly constituency in Barabanki district were false. He added that the names of the voters are registered in the voter list.
Similarly, DM Kasganj also rebutted the allegations of deletion of the names of 8 voters in the 101 Amanpur Assembly Constituency of Kasganj District. The DM clarified on X that the names of 7 of these voters are still registered in the voter list. He said that their names were listed twice and therefore, only the duplucate entries were removed.
Regarding the deletion of the name of the eighth voter, the DM said that his name was removed after his wife filled Form 7 seeking the removal of his name following his death.
The District Election Officer (DEO), Lucknow, also contradicted the allegations of the deletion of the names of 13 voters in the 169-Bakshi Ka Talab assembly constituency of the Lucknow district. The DEO wrote on X that the names of all the voters existed in the voter list except for two voters.
One voter was removed in 2012 as per the rules, as he no longer resides in the area, and the name of the other voter, who was a woman, was removed after her death.
The allegations levelled by Akhilesh Yadav are part of a combined attack launched by the opposition parties against the Election Commission. The parties have been opposing the routine revision of electoral rolls by the election body. The opposition’s attacks began last month when the Election Commission conducted a Special Intensive Revision in the poll-bound state of Bihar. The INDI Alliance leaders have been using all tricks in the book, from moving the Supreme Court to creating public uproar, to cast aspersions on the Election Commission.
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