‘Multilayered election mafia at work’: Akhilesh raises pitch for voting via ballot papers
SP chief says INDIA alliance will stay strong in UP and they will defeat BJP with public support
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav during a press conference in Lucknow demanded on Saturday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav demanded on Saturday that elections in India be held through ballot papers and appealed to his party cadres to get ready to fight against what he called a “multilayered election mafia” to save the country’s democracy and Constitution.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Lucknow, Akhilesh asserted that the INDIA alliance will stay strong in Uttar Pradesh and they will defeat the BJP with public support. His party’s demand for casting votes through ballot papers and their fight to remove electronic voting machines (EVMs) will continue even if “it takes years or a century”, the former chief minister asserted.
“The Samajwadi Party defeated the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections through EVMs and will again defeat them through EVMs. But we will keep working to get the EVMs removed. The BJP government is picking a hole in the public’s pockets through smart electricity meters.
The smart metre keeps running even during a power outage. It has been found that these meters can also be operated through a remote control. If this can happen with smart meters, why cannot it not happen with EVMs,” the SP leader added.
Taking an indirect jibe at the RSS, he said, “The BJP’s unregistered companions, who spent their whole lives doing espionage, create a misleading atmosphere. In the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the party conspired to delete the voters’ names. They submitted to the Election Commission affidavits of voters whose names were deleted, but no action has yet been taken against any official responsible for this. Now, the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) has been introduced to delete votes. The Samajwadi Party is checking the voter lists across the state.”
The Election Commission, he alleged, is not sharing technical information such as the type of software it uses. “Votes were deleted on a large scale in West Bengal. Votes were removed by showing errors. This happened openly. The BJP is not only looting the rights of people but it is also looting votes,” Yadav added.
“When Samajwadi Party comes to power, education for girls from KG (kindergarten) to PG (postgraduation) will be free. Our government built a world-class cancer institute on 100 acres at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. In a Samajwadi Party government, cancer treatment will be made free,” he said.
The Noida International Airport was inaugurated for selling the aviation facility, he claimed.
“The BJP and industrialists have formed a gang. This party has cheated and looted people in the name of smart metres. This government did not generate electricity. It did not increase production. More bills were collected through smart metres. The Samajwadi Party will make electricity up to 300 units free when it forms government,” he added.
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