SP alleges irregularities; demands central forces for ULB elections

Lucknow: Alleging large-scale irregularities in the first phase of the urban local body elections including tampering with EVMs, the Samajwadi Party has filed a complaint with the State Election Commission demanding the deployment of central paramilitary forces to guard the strong rooms where the EVMs from the first phase of the elections are being stored.

Rajendra Chaudhry, the SP spokesman, expressed concerns about the second phase of the elections on May 11, stating that the party is anticipating similar irregularities.

During the first phase of polling, the party detected large-scale irregularities in the electoral rolls, with a significant number of voters’ names missing or having incorrect addresses. “These flaws in the electoral rolls prevented many voters from casting their votes,” Chaudhry said.

The SP leader alleged that nearly 9 lakh voters’ names were missing from the electoral rolls in Agra. Polling stations were also set up far away from voters’ residential areas in several districts, making it challenging for them to find their polling booths. Moreover, booth-level officers failed to deliver voter slips to voters’ homes ahead of the polling, compounding the difficulties faced by voters.

The SP spokesperson demanded that the district administration provide all relevant information about the storage of EVMs to representatives of all political parties. Additionally, he called for CCTV cameras to be installed in all strong rooms with 24-hour power supply backup through diesel generators.

On the day of counting, the SP leader insisted that the EVMs should be opened in the presence of counting agents from all political parties. “The SEC should permit counting agents to be present at the counting centres during the counting of votes,” the SP spokesman said.