Akhilesh Yadav targets BJP, says 'impartial elections' will be EC's victory

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said the Election Commission of India is the only ray of hope, which can curb the misuse of the ED, CBI and IT department by the BJP government from the front.

"E=ED, C = CBI, I=IT. The way ECI is formed by combining the first letters of ED, CBI and IT department is actually a positive indication that 'Election Commission of India' is the ray of hope that can curb the misuse of ED, CBI and IT department by the BJP government from the front," Yadav said in a post on X in Hindi.

"From today we are entering the first election month of 2024. It is hoped that the 'Election Commission' will fulfill its constitutional responsibility and will not allow the unbridled and dishonest government machinery to become active and will become a shield to protect democratic values as always. Only when democracy survives, the dignity ('garima') and reputation ('prathistha') of the Election Commission will also remain intact," he said.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said heartiest congratulations to the Election Commission for conducting impartial elections in a fearless manner and for giving equal opportunity to all the parties to contest the elections without any bias or discrimination.

'Impartial elections will be victory of the Election Commission,' he said.

Around 15.34 crore people are eligible to vote in Uttar Pradesh -- a politically crucial state with 80 Lok Sabha seats where the elections will be held in seven phases from April 19.

According to the election schedule, eight parliamentary constituencies in the state will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19. These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit.

Voting in the second phase will take place on April 26, while voting in the third phase will be held on May 7.

The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls will witness voting on May 13.

State capital Lucknow will go to polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.

Voting in the sixth phase will be held on May 25. The seventh and final phase of polling will be held on June 1 and among the seats it will cover are Varanasi -- represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- and Gorakhpur, the pocket borough of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Counting of votes will be held on June 4.