Akhilesh Yadav claims Sambhal violence “orchestrated” by BJP to prevent discussion on “Election fraud”

Lucknow: Following stone pelting at an ASI team surveying a Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the administration of orchestrating the incident to prevent any discussion on “election fraud.”

Addressing a press conference, Akhilesh Yadav, who was the former chief minister of the State alleged that the ASI survey team had been sent to disrupt the environment so that no one could discuss the Uttar Pradesh by-poll election results.

“In the morning, a survey team was sent to disrupt the environment so that no one could discuss the elections. During this clash, many young people were injured, and one even lost his life. If the survey had already been conducted, why did the government conduct another survey, that too early in the morning and without preparation? I won’t delve into legal and court procedures, but there was no one to hear the other side. What happened in Sambhal was orchestrated by the BJP and the administration to prevent any discussion on the election fraud,” the SP leader said.

Sambhal Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishan Kumar on Sunday morning took stock of the stone pelting incident in Sambhal and assured that the law and order situation has been brought under control and that peace was restored in the area. The survey of the mosque was completed despite the chaos, the official said asserting that stringent action will be taken against the accused after their identification.

Further, Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the by-polls in Uttar Pradesh were not impartial as the booth agents of the Samajwadi Party were removed during the polling.

“On the day of the election, a lot of videos were being received continuously, which we were informing you (media) about and through social media, the Election Commission and the concerned officials were being informed about. I saw the video of our Samajwadi Party candidate from Kundark when he went out to cast his vote, he got the information that his booth agents were removed, the way the police administration behaved, they intended that no Samajwadi Party agent should remain at the booth. On a large scale, wherever Samajwadi Party people wanted to go to cast their votes, they were stopped on the way, if we assume that the voters were stopped, then who have cast their votes if Samajwadi Party voters have not reached those booths?” Yadav said.

The Samajwadi Party chief also claimed that there are many individuals whose fingers do not bear voting marks, yet votes have been cast in their names.

“This is a very serious issue. This behaviour is not new for them (BJP). Election rigging has been captured on video. On a large scale, there are individuals whose fingers do not bear voting marks, yet their votes have been cast. The Election Commission should check their documents to verify if those listed reached the booths or not. This is a case of modern-day booth capturing,” Yadav said.

“If PDA workers had not been replaced and tampered with, BJP would have struggled to win even a single seat. BJP thinks these results will weaken the PDA, but they are wrong. The unity of the PDA is the biggest concern for the BJP. This election was not impartial; it was won through dishonesty and vote theft,” he added. The PDA referred to by Yadav includes Picchde’ (backwards), Dalits and ‘Alpsankhyak’ (minorities).