UP Chief Electoral Officer Asks Samajwadi Party To Submit Original Copies Of 18,000 Affidavits

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has asked the Samajwadi Party (SP) to provide original copies of the 18,000 affidavits it claimed to have submitted to the Election Commission. In a statement posted on X, the CEO clarified that only 3,919 scanned copies had been received through email so far, not the full set of 18,000 as claimed.

The CEO noted that it was possible the SP office mistakenly attached only a limited number of scanned affidavits while emailing the complaint. He urged the party to submit the complete set of originals either to his office, the respective district election officers, or the assembly constituency’s electoral registration officers. He also directed that proper receipts be issued for every affidavit submitted, to ensure clarity on the numbers received.

In an earlier post, the CEO said that not a single original affidavit had reached his office. The scanned affidavits, covering 3,919 individuals, came from 33 districts across 74 assembly constituencies. Investigations into five constituencies have been completed, revealing discrepancies.

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In some cases, affidavits were issued in the names of people who had died years before 2022. Others, when shown their scanned copies, denied ever submitting such documents. The CEO underlined that providing false evidence is a punishable offence under law.

Responding to the development, the Samajwadi Party alleged on X that the Election Commission had become an extension of the BJP, accusing it of siding with the ruling party and failing to act on voter complaints.