Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and the party’s Kundarki candidate Haji Rizwan on Sunday alleged widespread electoral malpractice during the recently concluded bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, accusing the administration of bias and voter suppression.
Speaking to the media, Akhilesh Yadav claimed that Samajwadi supporters were systematically prevented from voting. “On the day of the election, several videos and reports were continuously coming in. We shared these with the Election Commission and the concerned officials via social media. I saw a video of our candidate from Kundarki, who, upon reaching the booth to cast his vote, found his booth agents had been removed. The police and administration didn’t want any Samajwadi Party agents present at the booths,” the party chief alleged.
Akhilesh Yadav further questioned the integrity of the process, saying, “Wherever Samajwadi Party supporters wanted to go to cast their votes, they were stopped. If our voters didn’t reach the booths, then who cast the votes? It’s a serious question.”
‘Cheating on a large scale’: Haji Rizwan
Haji Rizwan, the SP candidate from Kundarki, echoed Akhilesh Yadav’s claims, alleging that the election was rigged. “Cheating was done on such a large scale. Ninety per cent of the people don’t even have ink marks on their fingers. The administration caused havoc, bringing in outsiders to influence the polls. If the election had been conducted honestly, I would have won by a margin of one lakh votes,” he claimed.
Haji Rizwan also criticised the role of law enforcement, claiming that police disrupted SP voters. “The SOG team came from nowhere and took people to a different police station,” he added.
Serious allegations against administration
Akhilesh Yadav raised further questions about irregularities in the voting process, alleging that two different voting slips were distributed at some booths, one normal and one with a red mark. “Today, people from Kundarki have come forward to share how they were stopped from voting. Similar incidents were reported from Sitapur. The intent of the administration seems clear—ensure SP voters don’t reach the booths,” he alleged.
BJP wins Kundarki seat after 30 years
Ramveer Thakur of the Bharatiya Janata Party created a record in Kundarki by winning the assembly seat for the party after a gap of 30 years.
Interestingly, Ramveer Thakur won the Kundarki seat with 1,70,565 votes, contesting against 11 contenders from the Muslim community in the assembly bypoll.
Ramveer Thakur won against Samajwadi Party’s Haji Rizwan, Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)’s Chand Babu, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Mohammad Varish and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Rafatullah.
