Less than two days before the results are scheduled to be announced for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged massive “EVM fraud” and “vote theft”. The SP chief claimed that Election Commission officials were tampering with EVMs and that he no longer trusts the EC. “I have no hope from the Election Commission. People themselves, in some way, have to fight to save democracy,” he said during an emergency press conference in Lucknow.
The senior leader further alleged that EVMs were being transported without informing the candidates. “We need to be alerted if EVMs are being transported this way. Varanasi DM is transporting EVMs without giving any information to local candidates. This is theft. We need to save our votes. We may go to court against it but before that, I want to appeal to the people to save democracy,” Yadav said.
He also said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s senior-most bureaucrat is calling up DMs to ensure that the counting process is slowed down at places where the BJP appears to be losing. “Exit polls want to create a perception that the BJP is winning. Samajwadi Party is winning Ayodhya that is why BJP is scared. This is the last fight for democracy,” he said, while urging reporters to find out who pays the companies that carry out exit poll surveys.
Shortly after the exit polls on Monday predicted a sweeping win for the BJP in UP, Yadav dismissed the pre-poll surveys and said that the ruling party would be wiped out from the state when the results are declared on 10 March. “Let them show whatever they have got. We are winning with a majority,” he said, dismissing predictions earlier on some TV channels. Akhilesh has been an outspoken critic of exit polls, going as far as to dub them “opium polls”. He claimed that the SP-led alliance will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh with over 300 seats.