Lucknow, Feb 25 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said that notices to voters were being issued on a large scale during the SIR and described the exercise as the BJP’s “votebandi” (depriving one of voting right) after “notebandi” (demonetisation), alleging the ruling party’s intent “was wrong then and remains wrong now”.
Yadav, according to a party statement, alleged that earlier only Muslims were harassed for documents, but now Hindus too were receiving repeated notices during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Election Commission has extended the claims and objections period to March 6 for Uttar Pradesh, the period for issuing notices to electors till March 27 and the final publication date to April 10.
“Sending notices to voters on a large scale was the ruling BJP’s ‘votebandi’ campaign after notebandi. The party’s intent was wrong then and remains wrong now,” Yadav said.
Referring to reported instances of discrepancies involving prominent families in West Bengal, Yadav said that when relatives of Subhas Chandra Bose and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen could be denied recognition, ordinary citizens would be left with little recourse.
He alleged that without voter cards, families would live in constant anxiety over losing their rights, inheritance and savings.
The SP chief claimed that the BJP has lost public support due to “dishonesty, deception and policy failures”, and is now relying on electoral irregularities to win.
He claimed that even BJP workers were facing public resentment over issues such as inflation and unemployment.
The former chief minister also questioned the process of voter detail verification, saying that documents being sought now had already been submitted earlier.
If errors had occurred, he said, the responsibility was with the authorities, but citizens were being forced to rectify records.
He described the SIR exercise as a “conspiracy” to cut votes of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) — a term he uses for the backward communities, Dalits and minorities — and urged party workers and booth-level officials to ensure that no valid vote was deleted and no false vote added.
He also criticised the role of the Election Commission, alleging that lapses in verification had burdened voters. PTI ABN ABN RT RT
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