Lucknow, Oct 26 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday demanded the linking of voter lists with Aadhaar and biometric verification facilities at polling booths, alleging large-scale irregularities in electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said the Election Commission should use available technology, including fingerprint scanning, to prevent duplication of voter entries and ensure the integrity of electoral rolls.
“Voter lists should be linked with Aadhaar, and biometric reading instruments should be made available at the booth level. It should not be optional and everyone should be added. These devices are not very expensive and technology can help rectify irregularities,” he said.
Alleging that the BJP was indulging in “vote fixing” through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, he said such practices would weaken democracy and the Constitution and erode public confidence in institutions.
“If this (linking Aadhaar) is not done, it raises questions about the intentions of the Election Commission and the BJP. They do not want voter lists and voters to be properly identified,” he alleged.
Yadav cited several instances of alleged discrepancies in voter lists, including cases from Pilibhit and the Sarojini Nagar Assembly constituency in Lucknow, to support his claims.
He referred to a case of Nandlal Nishad in Pilibhit and claimed that more than 100 forms had been filled in the name of a person identified as Dashrath in Sarojini Nagar.
He also cited the case of a person named Vikas, whose name allegedly appeared at multiple polling booths.
Yadav said the EC had begun taking action after opposition parties raised the issue, but maintained that the poll body needed to do much more to ensure that no eligible voter was left out and no individual was registered more than once.
“The Election Commission is a constitutional body, and its responsibility is to ensure that no vote is left out, no incorrect entry is made and no voter is registered twice, thrice or multiple times,” he said.
Citing what he described as examples of duplicate entries, Yadav claimed that a voter identified as Sunita, wife of Rajesh, aged 42, had 420 entries under the details examined by his party.
He claimed that searches using the same names across Uttar Pradesh yielded 2,341 entries.
Similarly, he alleged that 315 entries were found for a voter identified as Rajkumari, wife of Rajkumar, while searches across different locations and age groups yielded 1,627 entries.
Yadav questioned how such “discrepancies” could occur and urged the EC to use technology to identify and eliminate duplicate and incorrect entries.
He also alleged that the BJP was preparing for electoral malpractice on a large scale and suggested that the delay in holding panchayat elections was linked to it.
The SP chief said his party would continue examining electoral rolls and bringing alleged discrepancies to the EC’s attention.
He also alleged use of fake Aadhaar cards to cast votes, but did not elaborate on the charge. PTI ABN RT
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