Akhilesh flags 'irregularities' in SIR, accuses EC of bias
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh and accused the Election Commission (EC) of failing to ensure impartiality.
"This is a very important issue. Related reports are continuously coming to light," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, referring to the SIR exercise.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav recalled that when the EC announced the revision on November 4, 2025, it had promised to ensure that "no deficiency would remain in the voters' list" and said the process would make the electoral rolls "pure and inclusive".
"The EC had said with the help of mapping and technology, the voters' list would be made absolutely accurate and no voter would be left out," the SP president said, adding, "What we see on the ground are several irregularities."
Citing discrepancies found in the Kannauj Sadar Assembly constituency, which is part of his Lok Sabha seat, Yadav said, "If this is the situation in one constituency, one can imagine what is happening across the state."
He accused officials of working in collusion with the government and claimed that the EC, "which is a constitutional body, is no longer acting impartially".
During the recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, "votes were looted at the booths", Yadav alleged.
While CCTV footage does exist, the EC has decided that it will not be given to any political party, he claimed.
Yadav further alleged that the SIR exercise is being used as a tool to weaken the opposition.
"Through this revision, several conspiracies and manipulations are being carried out to weaken the opposition and the BJP government is preparing for it," he said.
The repeated extensions of the SIR timeline reflect a lack of preparedness, Yadav added.
"The time was extended for the first time, then it was extended again -- this shows that they were not prepared," he said, questioning which technology and technical experts are being used for the exercise.
Earlier in the day, Yadav had alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no intention of conducting a caste census and accused it of deceiving the backward, Dalit and minority (PDA) communities.
In a post on X, he said the census notification does not even have a column for caste. "What will they count? Caste census is also a BJP jumla," the SP chief said, alleging that the ruling party's "clear formula" is that without counting, no demographic basis will emerge for proportional reservation and rights.
He claimed that not conducting a caste census is a "BJP conspiracy" against the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) sections of the society.
Yadav said those who had put their trust in the BJP are now feeling not only cheated but "deeply insulted". He also took a swipe at BJP leaders and workers who had earlier claimed that the party would get a caste census conducted.
"Those BJP workers and leaders are now left with no face to show. They are being forced to remove BJP scarves from their necks and take down BJP flags from their homes, shops and vehicles," he claimed.
The former chief minister said the PDA community would now have to fight its battle for dignity, reservation and rights on its own.
He further alleged that whenever opposition intensifies, the BJP would again cite a "typing mistake" as an excuse. "The BJP has now been exposed so badly that everyone knows what it will do after its wrong intentions are revealed," he said.
Calling it "not BJP cleverness but BJP shamelessness", Yadav said the party's conduct amounts to a betrayal.
"The meaning of 'promise-breaking' BJP should now be written as 'deception' in dictionaries," he added.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
