Akhilesh Yadav Slams Centre Over ECI Rift, Calls Governance 'Unconstitutional'

• by Akanksha Mishra
• 2026-09-24 13:52:00

Launching a scathing attack on the central administration following reports of alleged internal friction within the Election Commission of India (ECI), Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav declared that democratic institutions are being systematically undermined to serve partisan interests. Reacting to purported differences between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Kannauj Lok Sabha MP alleged that the government has adopted an arbitrary style of governance that seeks to "bulldoze" every check and balance, including statutory rules, legal procedures, and constitutional sanctity. Yadav claimed that the revelation of deep internal discord confirms long-standing opposition concerns that the apex election watchdog has been compromised, thereby stripping the electoral mandate of constitutional legitimacy.

Allegations of Targeted Voter Deletion: The SIR Controversy and Dismantled Neutrality

Sharpening his critique, the SP chief alleged that the institutional machinery was weaponized to selectively purge opposition-leaning demographics from electoral registers under the guise of statutory administrative revisions like Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Yadav asserted that basic democratic rights, voter dignity, and fair play were ignored as booth-level manipulations systematically disenfranchised traditional Samajwadi Party supporters. He claimed that despite formally submitting written representations and dossiers detailing the targeted omission of eligible electors, the commission failed to take corrective administrative action, allowing large-scale procedural irregularities to taint recent electoral contests across Uttar Pradesh and other key states.

'14 Notes in 10 Months': Questions Over Institutional Independence and Bengal Deployment

Pointing to internal communications within Nirvachan Sadan, Yadav highlighted that when fellow election commissioners register dissenting notes 14 times within a short 10-month span, it exposes the complete breakdown of institutional consensus and autonomous decision-making. Recalling his dramatic protest where he referenced carrying a symbolic shroud to the Lok Sabha to decry what he termed the demise of the commission's independence, the SP supremo questioned whose executive diktats the commission was following. Drawing parallels with recent electoral exercises, he cited past Uttar Pradesh by-elections and the heavy deployment of three lakh central paramilitary personnel during the West Bengal assembly elections to argue that excessive administrative intervention has eroded public trust in free and fair franchise delivery across India.

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