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Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday extended strong political support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asserting that she is at the forefront of the national fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yadav made the remarks after meeting Banerjee at the state secretariat, Nabanna, in the afternoon.
Addressing the media following the meeting, Yadav launched a sharp attack on the BJP and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the exercise was being misused to target opposition-ruled states, particularly West Bengal. “In the entire nation, if there is someone who is fighting the BJP, it is Mamata Banerjee. She also shows how to fight the BJP,” Yadav said, openly endorsing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo’s political approach.
Yadav alleged that while the SIR was officially presented as a routine electoral exercise, its real objective was to disenfranchise voters in opposition strongholds. “The SIR was never meant for Bihar. The main target was Bengal,” he claimed, accusing the BJP of using constitutional institutions to weaken political opponents.
He further questioned the role of the Election Commission, stating that its constitutional mandate was to increase voter participation rather than reduce the voter base. “It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to increase voter turnout and the number of voters. But for the first time in history, the Election Commission is working in cahoots with the BJP to strike down legitimate voters so that they can win elections,” Yadav alleged.
According to him, the revision process was being used as a backdoor attempt to introduce the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “On the pretext of SIR, they are trying to implement NRC to disenfranchise voters,” he said.
Yadav also echoed Banerjee’s recent allegations of “vote theft,” accusing the poll body of technological manipulation. “We were earlier talking about vote chori. Mamata Banerjee has now exposed the digital dacoity of the Election Commission,” he said, escalating the rhetoric against the constitutional authority.
He claimed that similar practices were being followed more aggressively in Uttar Pradesh, where, according to him, a large number of voters’ names had already been removed from electoral rolls. Election Commission data shows that more than 2.9 crore voters have been deleted from the draft SIR list in Uttar Pradesh.
“The BJP is not fighting to win elections; it is fighting to make its loss look respectable,” Yadav said, asserting that secular forces would eventually prevail. He accused the ruling party of attempting to divide the country with the alleged assistance of institutions meant to remain neutral.
Yadav also praised Banerjee for what he described as her resistance against central investigative agencies. “We are happy that Didi has defeated the ED. The BJP has not been able to recover from the pain of the pen drive,” he remarked, in an apparent reference to controversies that followed after ED raided the house and office of I-PAC director Prakit Jain earlier this January. Mamata Banerjee in an act of defiance had walked out of Jain’s residence with files while the raids were underway - what she claimed where her party’s internal documents. Mamata Banerjee had alleged Enforcement Directorate was misused by BJP to snoop on her party’s blue print ahead of Bengal elections.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is a legally mandated exercise conducted by the Election Commission to update voter lists, remove duplicates, and ensure accuracy. However, opposition parties, particularly in West Bengal, have alleged that the process is being selectively enforced and misused to delete names of minority, migrant, and economically weaker voters ahead of upcoming elections. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly accused the BJP of attempting to manipulate voter lists through administrative and technological means, an allegation the BJP and the Election Commission have denied. “They have looted Maharashtra elections and they are doing everything possible to destroy this democracy”, Yadav said
