Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday demanded that the Supreme Court take cognisance of the vote-counting process in West Bengal and make CCTV footage public. He alleged that what Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee is facing now is similar to what his party experienced during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters in Lucknow on Wednesday, the Yadav questioned the fairness of the recently concluded polls, in which the BJP secured a landslide victory, winning 207 seats and ending the TMC’s 15-year rule in the state.
“When court proceedings can be live-streamed, why can the vote-counting process not be broadcast live?” Yadav asked. “Why is CCTV not live? Why are they so afraid of it? Our demand is that the Supreme Court should immediately take cognisance of the West Bengal polls and make the counting footage public,” he added.
“We all know what is happening in West Bengal today. We saw in the recent by-elections in Uttar Pradesh how the police and administration stopped voters from casting their votes. The Kundarki bypoll is a clear example of how things were manipulated. All this is happening with the help of a multi-layered election mafia active in the state,” the SP chief alleged.
Recalling the 2022 UP assembly elections, Yadav said, “We all remember how SP workers were forcibly removed from counting centres by central forces and results were changed. Around 18,000 votes — mostly belonging to Muslims and Yadavs — were either deleted or shifted even as the Election Commission ignored the objections raised by our party then.”
{{/usCountry}}Recalling the 2022 UP assembly elections, Yadav said, “We all remember how SP workers were forcibly removed from counting centres by central forces and results were changed. Around 18,000 votes — mostly belonging to Muslims and Yadavs — were either deleted or shifted even as the Election Commission ignored the objections raised by our party then.”
{{/usCountry}}The Kannauj MP claimed that the BJP does not conduct a genuine “matgadna” but rather a “mangadna”, where winners are pre-decided and the process is manipulated accordingly.
He further said the BJP would now implement in Uttar Pradesh what it had learnt in Bengal, or even attempt something bigger. Yadav also confirmed that he would visit Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, with sources indicating that the meeting could take place on Friday.
Responding to a query on severing ties with political consultancy firm I-PAC, Yadav said, “We did not end the association because of election results in any state. It was due to a lack of funds. This is the main reason and has nothing to do with the outcome of any assembly election.”
Further attacking the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav alleged that health services in the state were in a shambles. He also claimed that those who “loot votes” would go on to “loot reservation”.
On the issue of women’s quota, the SP chief said the Women’s Reservation Bill had already been passed in 2023.