UP CM, BJP speak in support of EC as they are involved in the 'scam' themselves: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday hit out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP for defending the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that they themselves were "involved in the scam".

Yadav was interacting with reporters at the party headquarters here, hours after the chief minister asked the opposition parties to apologise to the nation for their criticism of the Election Commission and the SIR exercise, and accused them of weakening democratic institutions.

Akhilesh Yadav alleges electoral roll manipulation

"If the Election Commission is involved in a scam and the chief minister is speaking in support of the Commission, it means the chief minister himself is involved in the scam. The entire BJP is involved in the scam," he said.

Yadav alleged that voters who cast their ballots in 2019 Lok Sabha elections were denied the opportunity to vote in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls as their names were removed from electoral rolls without notice.

"In 2017, we did not pay attention as we trusted the Election Commission to be impartial and not compromise its credibility. But when the results came in 2022, I remember saying at our national convention that the Election Commission and officials deliberately deleted Samajwadi Party votes," Yadav said.

"People who had voted in 2019 were not allowed to vote in 2022, without notice and without following any rule or law," he alleged.

Yadav alleged that during by-elections, voters were stopped from reaching polling booths by blocking roads and by police personnel deployed in plain clothes.

On the ongoing SIR exercise, Yadav alleged that Form 7, through which people can apply for deletion of names from electoral rolls, has been misused in Uttar Pradesh.

"The BJP engaged a private company and sent them from village to village to get Form 7 applications filled. Do you think people printed these forms in villages?" he alleged.

"In Lucknow, more than 100 Form 7 applications were filled by one person, when the rule says no more than five forms can be filled with one signature. As a result, more than 100 votes were deleted," he added.

Yadav urged the Election Commission to protect its credibility and act independently.

"It is an easy thing: protect your credibility, Election Commission. Do not work at anyone's behest. There are countless examples before you. Our people had filed complaints. There is a pile of complaints, but no action was taken," he alleged, adding that if the Commission had taken action, its credibility would not have been questioned.

Akhilesh Yadav raises development and welfare issues

On development issues, Yadav criticised the state government's handling of waterlogging in Gorakhpur and said the city should have had a metro system instead of boats during the flooding.

"People are talking about using boats. Why should boats be used in Gorakhpur? A metro was supposed to run here. Instead, boats are plying there," he said.

Yadav alleged that large amounts of money were spent for the development of Prayagraj and Varanasi without producing the promised results.

He also criticised the government's decision to discontinue the Yash Bharti Award, the highest civilian honour in Uttar Pradesh.

"The government has stopped honourarium, and programmes and schemes meant to honour people. The Yash Bharti Award was stopped. I want to honour people from across the state: whether they are poets, sportspersons, litterateurs, people associated with art, theatre or the film industry," he said.

"Under the Samajwadi Party government, the award was Rs 11 lakh. If we form the government again, we will increase it to Rs 21 lakh. The monthly honourarium will be raised from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh," Yadav said.

He said journalists were also considered for the honour. "I remember that many of our journalist colleagues had received the Yash Bharti Award."

Yadav emphasised his party's focus on sports and welfare of sportspersons.

"There should be no playing games with sports. Sportspersons should be honoured: budgetary provisions should be made, and financial awards should be instituted for them. If the Samajwadi Party forms the government, we will work in that direction," he said.