- Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticized the Election Commission's SIR exercise
- Yadav claimed SIR tactics will not work in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and other states
- NDA leaders dismissed opposition's SIR criticism as excuses from losing parties
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's first reaction to the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) clear lead over the Mahagathbandhan began with a swipe over the pre-election special intensive revision (SIR), an exercise carried out by the Election Commission to clean up the voter rolls.
Yadav alluded to the NDA's lead to the SIR in Bihar, and in an apparent attempt to diminish the NDA's work on the ground, he said the "SIR game" will not work in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and other states.
"The game played by the SIR in Bihar will no longer be possible in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, or elsewhere because this electoral conspiracy has now been exposed," the Samajwadi Party chief said in a post on X.
The NDA was leading in 193 seats, the Mahagathbandhan was behind at 45, and others were at 5 as at 12.42 pm today; 122 is the halfway mark in the 243-seat assembly.
"We will not let them play this game any further... We will remain vigilant and thwart the BJP's plans. The BJP is not a party, but a fraud," Yadav said.
NDA leaders have equated the Opposition's criticism of the SIR exercise as tantrums thrown by those who lost the election. Unable to win, they are trying to create chaos by attacking independent institutions, NDA leaders have said, adding the same parties that complained about SIR would stay quiet if they had taken the lead.
Responding to Yadav, BJP leader Raj Bhushan Nishad told NDTV the Samajwadi Party chief should know that it is still not too late to realise the importance of the SIR exercise in weeding out fake voters, especially illegal immigrants.
"Instead, we have seen how people like Akhilesh Yadav ji have supported illegal immigrants," he said.
