Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 7 : Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday challenged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to release CCTV footage of voting in the West Bengal assembly polls. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of covering its "lies" by telling another one.
Yadav invoked the incidents reported during the Rampur bypolls in 2022, where he alleged that voters were stopped from coming out to exercise their franchise.
Speaking after a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata, Yadav said, "BJP's lies are like layerings of Soan Papdi. They put another layer of lies on top of one layer. All the videos are in the archives. During the Rampur elections, they didn't let any voter come out. Is the Election Commission blind?"
He further questioned the Election Commission and demanded transparency in the polling processes.
"The BJP people are very scared of CCTV and cameras. If the Election Commission is impartial, then show the CCTV video of the voting in Kundarki to the public. If the proceedings of the Supreme Court can be live, then why can't the CCTV of Bengal's voting and counting be shown?" he said.
Alleging voter suppression, Yadav claimed that democratic processes were undermined in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly polls.
"The way they insulted democracy and Didi (Mamata Banerjee), due to which her voters were not allowed to vote. This responsibility lies with the central forces," he said, adding, "Will you conduct the elections in such a way that you will not allow the agents of political parties to sit there, and then prepare for how many voters are to be cut in which booth by implementing SIR? The votes of strong voters of TMC's strong booths were cut. Who gave this right? This is the biggest murder of democracy. Therefore, our appeal to all the political parties would be that at least we should be seen standing together on this question."
"We made two mistakes: one that we defeated the BJP, and the other that we defeated them in Ayodhya. We will definitely be targeted, and we are targeted by many people," he quipped.
Yadav further alleged irregularities in West Bengal assembly elections, saying, "I hope that the people of the country will wake up after this. Whatever happened in Bengal. Can you imagine that over 3 lakh central forces were deployed in Bengal, and selective officers were posted? I have also heard that the officers were lured that if they help them win the elections, then we will be paid well and you will see that all the big officers who are getting the elections done from here will get some big post later."
He also made strong remarks on Mamata Banerjee's leadership, alleging that the BJP follows a "masculine and feudal mindset" that does not support women's rise in politics.
"They do not like Didi (Mamata Banerjee) because Didi likes to fight. She is being hated by them because she is the representative of half the population. The people of the BJP, who are masculine and feudal, can never see a woman growing. They did not let a woman become the Chief Minister in Rajasthan. They made only one woman Chief Minister, who has no power," the SP chief said.
"We are with Didi in this fight because we have to save democracy and the constitution. If they take away our voting rights, then what democracy is left? Nobody has destroyed democracy as much as the BJP has. The BJP can go to any extent for power. They can break any law. We saw very closely in Uttar Pradesh what they did there. They have done it here," he added.
The meeting in Kolkata comes amid the post-poll violence in West Bengal following the recently concluded elections.
In the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, the BJP won 207 seats, whereas the TMC, which has been in power in West Bengal for the past 15 years, won 80 seats.
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