Akhilesh Yadav renews attack on EC, questions DMs 'delayed response' to 2022 UP poll anomaly allegations

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday questioned the ”sudden activism” of three district magistrates in Uttar Pradesh over his allegations of voter list anomalies during the 2022 assembly polls, and reiterated his demand for a probe into what he described as a ”nexus” between the BJP government, the Election Commission and the local administration.

”Why have the DMs responded after so many years?” Yadav asked in a post on X. Referring to the responses from the district magistrates of Kasganj, Barabanki and Jaunpur to his earlier allegations, he said, ”Their replies prove that the Election Commission’s claim that no affidavits were received was false. If there were no affidavits, what are these district magistrates replying to now?” He added that ”superficial responses” by the officials amounted to an admission of their involvement, which should also be investigated.”Either the Election Commission or the DMs are lying.

The court must take cognisance,” Yadav said, alleging that the BJP, the poll panel and local officials formed a ”triad” that ”hijacked democracy.” The fresh remarks came a day after the district magistrates of Jaunpur, Kasganj and Barabanki publicly refuted his allegations of wrongful deletion of voters’ names during the 2022 elections.

Citing individual complaints, they said separately on X that the deletions had been carried out as per rules and that in some cases the names continued to exist in the rolls. Kasganj DM Pranay Singh said in his response that the names of seven voters in Amapur were still present, while one name had been deleted after due procedure following the voter’s death.Jaunpur DM Dinesh Chandra said five voters flagged in a complaint had in fact died before 2022, and their names were removed accordingly.