UP CEO hints at forgery by Samajwadi Party while e-mailing electors' affidavits

Lucknow, Aug 25 (IANS) The office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday dismissed the Samajwadi Party’s claim about filing 18,000 affidavits of allegedly aggrieved electors as false, hinting at possible forgery in e-mailing of scanned copies of 3,919 affidavits by the party.

“Regarding the complaint made with 18,000 affidavits, which is being repeatedly mentioned, it is clarified that not a single voter's affidavit has been received in its original form,” said the CEO in a post on X.

The state’s top election official said, “Through email, the complaint filed by the Samajwadi Party has indeed resulted in the receipt of scanned copies of affidavits from approximately 3,919 different named individuals. The complaint pertains to 74 Assembly constituencies across 33 districts.”

“The investigation into the complaint related to 5 Assembly constituencies has been completed, and the findings of the investigation have also been presented to the general public through X,” said the CEO.

Cautioning that providing false evidence is a crime, the CEO said, “In the five Assembly constituencies investigated so far, it has been found that affidavits were created in November 2022 in the names of certain individuals who had died several years prior to 2022.”

“Some individuals, who were shown a scanned copy made in their name, have clearly refused that they ever provided such an affidavit. In is worth mentioning that, legally, providing false evidence is considered a crime,” said the CEO.

Earlier, the SP trained its guns on the state Election Commission and, in a message on X, said, “The entire 2022 Assembly elections, all bye-elections were looted under the collusion and signals of the BJP in power, and like Dhritarashtra, the Election Commission remained complicit in dishonest acts by silently supporting the BJP's dishonesty.”

The Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh alleged ECI inaction over affidavits and complaints filed by aggrieved electors in the state – a claim which has been denied by the CEO, Uttar Pradesh.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led party said on X, “What action was taken on those more than 18,000 affidavits and the complaints voiced by the public? Instead, there were even reports of threats to the complainants, which are extremely shameful.”

The public's trust in the Election Commission has completely eroded, and the public has accepted that the Election Commission is just a limb of the BJP party and a part of the electoral dishonest acts of the BJP, alleged the SP.

--IANS

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