INDIA Bloc Rally: Addressing the India Gathbandhan rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav challenged the BJP over the 2027 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that the people of Uttar Pradesh will bid farewell to the BJP and its allies in the upcoming elections, saying that they will not be able to come back to power.
Akhilesh Yadav said that the people of Uttar Pradesh know well who to put in power and whom to send away. His statement has heated up the political atmosphere in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
Ramlila Maidan became the stronghold of democracy
Akhilesh Yadav called Ramlila Maidan the ‘haldighati’ of democracy. He said that the huge crowd gathered here and the slogans of change show that political change in the country can happen anytime. He accused the BJP of using the Election Commission to influence the elections. According to him, the BJP is taking the help of the Election Commission as it is afraid of losing the elections.
Allegation of removal of name from voter list
Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the names of eligible voters were removed from the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. Referring to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, he said that the Samajwadi Party workers and the party’s PDA (Backward, Dalit and Minority) class workers had identified voters who had voted in 2019, but could not vote in 2022 as their names were not in the voter list.
He claimed that complaints and affidavits were submitted to the Election Commission in this regard, but no action was taken. Akhilesh Yadav also referred to the BJP’s claim that the names of 1.27 crore Hindu voters in Uttar Pradesh were removed from the list. He termed this figure as an attempt to shift the blame for the possible defeat in the elections to 403 assembly constituencies.
Opposition front against Election Commission on SIR issue
The India Alliance rally was held against the Special Intensive Revision Process (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged ‘vote theft’. Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and other opposition leaders also raised questions against the functioning of the Election Commission and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Election Commission says that SIR aims to make voter lists more accurate. Eligible voters can apply to have their names included in the list under the prescribed process. With this rally, there are signs that the political conflict between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party will intensify ahead of the 2027 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.