Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said they would soon submit detailed information about the deletion of Muslim and Yadav voters from the electoral rolls. The details have been sought by the Election Commission of India.
Yadav said the party would submit the reply along with documentary evidence to the poll panel. The SP chief said they have set November 3 as the deadline for the candidates to submit documents to the party headquarters so that the same could be sent to the Election Commission of India in time.
On Tuesday, Akhilesh held a marathon meeting with senior party leaders to discuss the issue. All the party candidates during the March 2022 UP assembly elections have been asked to submit the names of voters whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls.
State president of SP Naresh Uttam said the process of collecting evidence regarding the alleged deletion of voters’ names in the recent assembly elections is underway. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked SP president Akhilesh Yadav to “submit documentary proof” to substantiate his allegation about the deletion of voter names in the 2022 UP Assembly polls.
The SP president has now asked all the party candidates (winners and losers) in March 2022 UP assembly elections and district units’ top office-bearers to gather evidence of names that were ‘wrongfully struck off voters’ lists’.
They have been directed to compile photocopies of complaints made to returning officers at that time. The SP has issued a circular to all the district and city unit presidents, asking them to collect affidavits from voters whose names were wrongfully deleted from the voters’ lists.
It may be recalled that on October 27, the EC had asked Akhilesh Yadav to submit proof to back up his charges by November 10.
Akhilesh hit back at the poll panel on October 28 and said, “Had the Election Commission of India itself followed the rules related to the voters’ list in the 2022 UP assembly polls, thousands of voters would not have been deprived of their right to franchise.”
Last month, the SP chief had alleged that the names of 20,000 voters from Yadav and Muslim communities had been deleted from almost all 403 assembly constituencies ahead of the elections in February-March.