Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday urged the Election Commission (EC) to issue a notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his claim that names of 1.27 crore Hindu voters were missing from the electoral roll.

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In a memorandum submitted to the chief electoral officer, the party's state chief, Shyamlal Pal, accused the EC of double standards by seeking affidavits from opposition leaders who raised allegations of irregularities in electoral roll, while being silent on the chief minister's statement.

The party asked why the EC had not issued a notice to Adityanath for his claim (made in an interview to a private news channel) that about 1.27 crore Hindu names were deleted from the state electoral roll.

The poll panel must seek an affidavit from the chief minister to safeguard its credibility, it said.

The SP also cited a notice issued by the EC to party chief Akhilesh Yadav on October 27, 2022, after he raised allegations of irregularities in the electoral roll following the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls.

According to the memorandum, the commission had then sought a response from Yadav and stated that electoral rolls are not prepared on the basis of either religion or caste.

The party also raised objections to the relocation of polling station number 308, earlier situated at the Primary School in Kakariya village in the 110-Karhal Assembly Constituency of Mainpuri Parliamentary Constituency, to a primary school in Chauhanpur village.

It said that around 500 voters from Kakariya and 350 from Chauhanpur were registered at the polling station at Kakariya.

However, under the revised arrangement, voters from both villages have been attached to the polling station in Chauhanpur.

The SP claimed that the shifting of the poll booth violated the EC polling station manual (October 2020, Version 2), which provides that where a polling area comprises several villages, the polling station should ordinarily be located in the village having the larger number of voters.

The memorandum stated that Kakariya has a considerably higher number of voters than Chauhanpur.

The party also said that Chauhanpur, which has more than 300 voters, could be provided with a separate polling station.

The SP alleged that the relocation was politically motivated and carried out at the behest of the district president of the ruling BJP.

The party also alleged that its objections to the shifting proposal during a meeting of political parties were ignored.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Mathrubhumi and is published from a syndicated feed.)