Akhilesh Yadav Alleges Massive Rigging in Kundarki: Calls It ‘New-Age Electronic Booth Capturing’

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has alleged widespread rigging in the Kundarki Assembly by-election, an instance of "new-age electronic booth capturing." He claimed that many votes were cast fraudulently, with 90% of voters not even having ink marks on their fingers. The administration indulged in discrimination, alleged Yadav, where the polling agents from SP were removed from the polling booths, and SP supporters were prevented from voting.

Yadav questioned where the votes were cast for SP supporters who did not go to booths. He also alleged two types of voting slips. EVMs must be sent in for forensic examination to check if a single person has cast votes more than once. Pointing out the scale of malpractice, Yadav said, "People living outside the city also had their votes cast. This is a new form of booth capturing."

Yadav further clarified that victory in a democratic place is defined, he said, by the people's choice and not a manipulation of authorities. He further branded the government as having staged a fraudulent election as well as celebrating a hollow victory. He also pointed out the alleged role of private security personnel claiming they are like "Hitler's troopers" as forcing the voters to vote and thus changing the result of the election.

Haji Rizwan, SP candidate present at the time, also supported Yadav's allegations of widespread malpractices. Rizwan declared that genuine voters were disenfranchised, leading to his loss. BJP candidate Ramveer Singh had won with a handsome majority of 170,371 votes, beating Rizwan by 144,791 votes. Rizwan declared that he would have emerged victorious if voting had been fair.