Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday, 26 October called for mandatory linking of voter rolls with Aadhaar and the deployment of biometric verification at polling booths, citing what he described as widespread manipulation of electoral lists by those in power. Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow, Yadav directed his accusations at both the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging they had facilitated tampering with voter data ahead of upcoming elections.

The Demand: Aadhaar Linkage and Biometric Verification

Yadav argued that linking voter rolls with Aadhaar was no longer optional but an urgent necessity. “Voter lists should be linked with Aadhaar, and a biometric system should be introduced at the polling booths. It should not be optional, and everyone should be added. These devices are not very expensive, and technology can help rectify irregularities,” he said.

He stressed that the Election Commission bears the constitutional responsibility of ensuring that no eligible voter is excluded and no ineligible names are included. He argued that while creating duplicate voter IDs entirely is difficult, technology could substantially curb such malpractice if harnessed proactively.

Allegations of Duplicate Entries and BJP Orchestration

Yadav highlighted specific instances of alleged duplication, claiming that over 2,000 entries under the name “Sunita, wife of Rajesh” have been found across Uttar Pradesh. He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating such discrepancies for electoral gains, arguing that repeated identical names in the rolls directly skew outcomes. “The government that shuns questions weakens democracy,” he said, calling the alleged manipulation ‘match-fixing of votes.’

Notably, the demand for Aadhaar-voter list linkage is not new to Indian politics — the Election Commission has previously run voluntary Aadhaar-linking drives under the EPIC-Aadhaar seeding programme, though a mandatory nationwide linkage remains legally and procedurally unresolved. Yadav’s framing, however, goes further: he is positioning it as a safeguard against ruling-party manipulation rather than a routine administrative exercise.

Party Inductees and Coalition Arithmetic

Yadav’s remarks came during an event where several leaders from rival parties formally joined the SP. The new entrants included former BJP MLAs Sinod Shakya and Kushagra Sagar, former IAS officer Ram Bahadur Pasi, BJP leader Chandra Kumar Mishra, and Dara Singh Prajapati, previously associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Yadav said the SP has accumulated experience in coalition politics and will work with its allies to unseat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He also claimed that several sitting BJP MLAs are privately considering switching allegiance, urging party workers to concentrate on booth-level organisation.

Broader Political Context

The press conference signals an intensifying pre-election offensive by the SP as it looks to consolidate opposition ground in India’s most populous state. By framing electoral roll irregularities as a systemic BJP-ECI nexus, Yadav is attempting to shape the opposition’s narrative around institutional credibility — a line of attack that resonates in a state where voter registration drives have historically been contested. This is the latest in a series of public attacks by Yadav on the poll panel, reflecting a broader opposition strategy of pre-emptively questioning the electoral apparatus ahead of the next assembly cycle.

How the Election Commission responds to the specific allegations — particularly the claimed duplicate entries — will be closely watched in the weeks ahead.