Akhilesh Yadav sparks big row; blames Election Commission for SP's Assembly poll debacle

Stoking a big controversy on Thursday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the Election Commission of manipulating the Uttar Pradesh election. Speaking at the national convention of the SP on Thursday, Yadav made a ludicrous claim that the EC connived with the BJP to ensure that at least 20,000 voters of his party in each constituency are not able to exercise their franchise. Earlier in the day, the Leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly was re-elected as the SP president in the absence of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and veteran leader Azam Khan. 

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav remarked, "Even the people are not sure how this government was formed. These people have snatched your government. SP had formed the government in Uttar Pradesh. Your government was snatched away by using the entire machinery. Because they knew that the government at the Centre will go if they lose the UP government." 

He added, "The Election Commission deliberately reduced the votes of Yadavs and Muslims by 20,000 in almost every Assembly seat on the direction of the BJP and its Panna Pramukhs. I have said it before. And I will say it again that if a probe is conducted, it will be found that our 20,000 votes were discarded and the names of many people were removed. Some people were transferred from one booth to the other." 

BJP sweeps UP Assembly election

The UP Assembly elections were held in 7 phases - February 10, February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7, whereas the counting of votes took place on March 10. Though Akhilesh Yadav ran a spirited campaign travelling the length and breadth of the state, he failed to dislodge the BJP government from UP. This came even as SP's vote share increased from 21.82% to 32.06%, which is higher than its 2012 vote share when it formed the government in the state by winning 224 seats.

While the SP improved its tally to 111 from 47 seats that it won last time, its allies RLD and SBSP gained 8 and 6 seats each. Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath broke a 37-year-old jinx by securing a second term as the CM in UP. Despite a rise in its vote share from 39.67% to 41.29%, BJP bagged 255 seats. With Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party winning 12 and 6 seats each, the BJP-led alliance has 273 seats in the 403-member Assembly.