Akhilesh Yadav alleges targeted theft of PDA votes during UP SIR

Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav has leveled serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP regarding the Special Summary Revision (SIR) process. He said the data clearly shows that targeted theft of PDA votes is taking place. Names of people are being systematically removed from the voter list through Form-7.

The SP chief alleged that a large number of voters, especially those from the Muslim community, have been deleted using forged signatures.

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He announced that SP legislators would meet UP CEO tomorrow to seek disclosure of all the names of the individual, who had submitted Form 7 for deletion of the voters.

Over 1.18 lakh Form 7 have been submitted by individuals for deletion of their names in the voters list.

The SP president alleged that these names were allegedly given by BJP through fake names.

At a press conference held at the party headquarters on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav said in many cases, voter names have been deleted by submitting applications in the name of unknown individuals. He claimed that 16 voters were removed using the forged signature of Govind Rai, while in the Babaganj assembly constituency, approximately 100 votes were deleted by submitting Form-7 using forged signatures.

He also alleged that the vote of Atiq Ahmed, associated with the Samajwadi Party, was also cancelled under this process in the Bhuripura assembly constituency. He said that in one village, a conspiracy was hatched to remove the names of 146 people, including the wife of the former SP MLA.

In one case, he said, a name was deleted because the person had six children. He was asked why there were six children.

The SP chief alleged that in a secret BJP meeting, it was decided to delete voters’ names in areas where the Samajwadi Party is strong or has already won. Voters belonging to the PDA category are being targeted, and according to statistics, 76 per cent of the notices have been received by this category, with a large number of Yadav and Muslim voters. He alleged that people associated with the BJP are going from village to village and filling out Form-7 in large numbers.

Akhilesh Yadav quoted the Chief Minister as saying that “throne can be inherited, but not intelligence.” He also says that we were born with a silver spoon. He will hold a press conference on this issue next time. The SP chief said, “We had already stated that hundreds of BJP members were getting PDA votes cancelled. BJP members still refuse to comply and are getting votes cancelled through Form 7.”

He said when this came to light, the Election Commission had to hold a press conference to cover up its shortcomings. During that press conference, when questions were asked about the Sarojini Nagar votes, the Election Commission’s demeanor changed and they were unable to answer.

Akhilesh Yadav questioned the Election Commission’s role, saying that despite the Samajwadi Party’s complaints, no concrete action has been taken. He said that if action is taken against even one District Magistrate, the SIR will be rectified. He stated that this poses a serious threat to democracy and that the Samajwadi Party will fight at every level to protect the rights of voters.