Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that votes of his party supporters were deliberately deleted during the 2022 elections and claimed that such malpractice had been continuing over the years.
Addressing a press conference, Yadav said that the party had not paid enough attention in 2017 and had trusted the Election Commission to remain impartial and protect its credibility.
“We didn’t pay enough attention in 2017. We trusted and believed that the Election Commission would be impartial and would not compromise its credibility,” Yadav said.
He recalled that after the 2022 results, he had stated at the SP’s national convention that the Election Commission and officials had colluded to deliberately delete votes of the Samajwadi Party.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a definitive majority, winning 255 out of 403 seats individually and retaining power under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The BJP-led alliance (BJP+) won a total of 273 seats.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) emerged as the principal opposition, finishing second with 111 seats.
Yadav alleged that the malpractice had been taking place “all along” and said the difference now was that it had been exposed.
“However, when the results came out in 2022, I remember stating at our national convention that the Election Commission and officials had colluded to deliberately delete the votes of the Samajwadi Party. Those who had voted in 2019 were denied the opportunity to vote in 2022 without notice and without adherence to any rules or laws, and the result was that a Samajwadi government was not formed in 2022…this malpractice has been going on all along; the only difference now is that it has been exposed,” he added.
ECI is facing attack from the opposition parties as an Indian Express report had claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process and other electoral matters. The reported disagreements included issues concerning Form 6, voter deletions and access to electoral-roll databases.
The Election Commission has rejected the suggestion that the reported objections amounted to institutional dissent over final decisions. The poll panel said operational queries, inputs and suggestions raised during the draft stage were part of its standard administrative and decision-making process.
The poll body maintained that all decisions taken by the Commission, including those related to SIR, were unanimous and had the approval of all three commissioners.