Akhilesh also asserted that Ms Banerjee did not lose the polls and praised her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee for “fighting well.”
Kolkata: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has accused BJP of an election fraud with the help of central forces on the day of counting of the just concluded Assembly Election in West Bengal and dared the Election Commission to release CCTV footage of the counting centres on May 4.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister made the claims after meeting Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee at her residence in Kalighat on Thursday. He also asserted that Ms Banerjee did not lose the polls and praised her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee for “fighting well.” While greeting the TMC chief, Mr Yadav told her, “Aap Hare Nahin Hai (You did not lose).”
He later said, “I have just met Didi. Abhishek was also with me. Today, all of us, together, have to stand up to election fraud. When the election happened honestly, she won. But this time, due to the multi-layered ‘mafiagiri’ that happened in the election, no one could have imagined that this kind of fraud could be done by the BJP, the Election Commission, their associates, the spies, and the underground people.”
He alleged, “What has happened in Bengal was a way to destroy democracy. No one has probably damaged democracy as much as the BJP did. They can never see a woman rising. Voting indeed took place here. But people have voted more under pressure than of their own will. When the Supreme Court proceedings are broadcast live, what is the problem of the EC in showing the CCTV footage of what happened during the counting of votes here? The EC can show it to all.”
Claiming irregular deployment of forces and administrative interference during the polls, the SP chief pointed out, "Regarding central forces, the Election Commission, and transfer postings – I have observed these in the UP elections very closely. We complained about numerous officials. Yet neither the DGP, the Chief Secretary, nor any district officials were removed. However, during the Bengal elections, they took over the entire structure.”
He then argued, “When voting rights are taken away, think about what other rights can be denied. The data is available, showing how the manipulation of voting rights has led to unexpected electoral outcomes. No data has been hidden. For the logical discrepancies, what software was used? Whose software was it? The logical inconsistencies that have occurred, what caused them? Who was accessing the data, and which software was used? It was even raised in Parliament that such issues should be investigated thoroughly by the EC.”
