Akhilesh Yadav claims BJP conspiring to register outsiders as voters in Uttar Pradesh

Samajwadi Party president’s allegation comes days after Yogi’s remark on ‘1.27 crore missing Hindu voters’ in Uttar Pradesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of hatching a conspiracy to bring people from other states and enrol them as voters in Uttar Pradesh, linking the alleged plan to the ongoing controversy over “missing” Hindu voters.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has claimed polls could be announced as early as January 6, 2027, noting that the final voter list is scheduled for publication on January 4. (FILE PHOTO)

Addressing a press conference at the SP state headquarters in Lucknow on Friday, Yadav said the BJP had convened key organisational meetings in the state specifically to prepare for the issue of ‘1.27 crore missing Hindu voters’ raised by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

“If it is true that 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing, that is precisely why this meeting is taking place,” he said.

“The BJP is preparing regarding those ‘shifting’ voters, voters deleted due to relocation, or instances where fraudulent names were added,” Yadav said.

He alleged that the ruling party planned to bring individuals from Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and possibly other places to register them on the Uttar Pradesh electoral rolls.

He claimed the exercise involved “underground or unregistered elements” and warned that voters would face mismatched lists inside and outside polling booths, forcing them to search for their names elsewhere.

“This is all a big conspiracy by the BJP,” he asserted.

Recently, chief minister Yogi Adityanath claimed that 1.27 crore Hindu voters were missing from the state’s electoral rolls.

The chief minister had told a private channel that the number of Muslim voters had risen by 1.65% and pointed to discrepancies between panchayat and assembly rolls, saying 66 lakh voters listed in panchayat lists were absent from assembly rolls. He also referred to 55 lakh Hindu beneficiaries of government schemes and 4.5 lakh voters in the 18-19 age group whose names were allegedly missing, adding that the BJP had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission seeking the inclusion of eligible voters.

The SP national president also claimed that, “it seems that the UP CM has been scolded by the Election Commission and now he won’t talk about the missing 1.27 crore voters.”

Yadav thanked PDA volunteers and workers for protecting their votes and sharing information regularly. PDA, a term coined by him, stands for Pichhda (backward classes/OBCs), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities). He said the real battle would be fought at the booth level and that if PDA praharis (booth in-charges) succeeded, the party would win. He also asked party workers to avoid negative campaigning.

Regarding the election timeline, Yadav claimed polls could be announced as early as January 6, 2027, noting that the final voter list is scheduled for publication on January 4.