BY MOHAMMAD TARIQUE SALEEM
Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has once again raised serious concerns about voter list manipulation during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He alleged that thousands of names were deliberately deleted from the electoral rolls, thereby undermining the democratic process and disenfranchising genuine voters. According to Yadav, the SP had submitted 18,000 affidavits highlighting irregularities in the deletion of names from the electoral rolls.
However, despite repeated appeals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has not provided a proper response to even a single affidavit. This silence, Yadav argues, reflects a deliberate attempt to sidestep accountability. The Election Commission cannot escape responsibility by merely putting the District Magistrate forward,” Yadav said. There must be a thorough and impartial investigation into how and why these names were removed.
The DM must show the so-called ‘death certificates’ that were allegedly used at the time of deletion. If these documents are genuine, then why has it taken so many years to provide clarification? And if they are fabricated, it is nothing less than electoral fraud. The SP claims that a large section of voters, particularly minorities, Dalits, and backward communities, were disproportionately affected by these deletions.
Local reports during the 2022 elections suggested that entire families found their names missing from polling lists despite being long-time residents of their constituencies. Many voters only discovered this on the day of polling, when they were denied the right to cast their votes. Such actions, if proven, raise fundamental questions about the fairness of elections in the country’s most politically significant state.
Uttar Pradesh, with its 403 assembly seats and 80 parliamentary constituencies, plays a decisive role in shaping the national political landscape. Yadav’s demand for accountability is not just about the past but also about safeguarding the future. “If electoral rolls can be manipulated without consequences, then democracy itself is at risk,” he said. He further urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to act as a neutral constitutional body rather than allowing itself to be shielded behind bureaucratic procedures.
The SP has called for:
- A high-level inquiry into voter list deletions during the 2022 Assembly elections.
- Publication of supporting documents, such as the “death certificates” cited in deletions, for public scrutiny.
- Stricter monitoring mechanisms to ensure that voter list revisions are transparent and accountable in the future.
The allegations, if true, are not just about partisan politics, they strike at the very foundation of democracy. Free and fair elections are the lifeblood of any democratic system, and systematic disenfranchisement undermines public trust in institutions. In an era where citizens expect transparency and fairness, the reluctance to address these 18,000 affidavits is alarming. The credibility of both the ruling party and the Election Commission is at stake. As the country moves toward the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and the 2029 general elections, ensuring the sanctity of the voter list will be a crucial test for India’s democracy. For now, Akhilesh Yadav’s demand resonates as a reminder: without accountability, there can be no true democracy.
