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Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday alleged that the Election Commission is functioning at the behest of the BJP and raised concerns over the fairness of elections.
Speaking to ANI, Yadav said, "It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure that votes are cast and not cut, and to prove its credibility that the elections will be fair. But what we are seeing is that the Election Commission is working at the behest of the BJP." He cited instances from Uttar Pradesh, alleging irregularities during elections."There are many examples from Uttar Pradesh. Everyone saw how much dishonesty happened in Kanpur, but despite that, the public sent our candidate to victory... but the Election Commission took no action against anyone," he said. The Samajwadi Party chief also referred to a recent issue related to Form-7 under the SIR process, claiming irregularities. "Recently, when Form-7 was being filled regarding the SIR issue, Nandlal Kashyap, who doesn't even know how to sign, was made to sign by the BJP. When we raised this issue, the Election Commission took no action against anyone," Yadav alleged. He further questioned the role of the poll body in ensuring free and fair elections. "The question arises that the Election Commission is saying there will be no rigging, no booth capturing, no inducements will be offered--if there were no Election Commission, all this would be possible. The Election Commission should not work at the behest of the BJP," he added. Earlier, the election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and Bye-election to 8 (Eight) Assembly Constituencies of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tripura. Assam, Keralam and Puducherry go to the polls on Thursday while Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23 and West Bengal votes in two phases April 23 and April 29. The election results are scheduled for May 4. A total of 1,955 candidates are in the fray for the elections to the legislative assemblies of the States of Assam and Kerala and the UT of Puducherry and bye elections in 4. (ANI)
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