Akhilesh takes dig at Adityanath over SIR 80 20 remarks says BJP-NDA capable of contesting only 80 seats

Lucknow, Nov 10 (PTI) SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday took a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his remarks on the SIR and his '80:20' formulation for the upcoming Assembly polls, suggesting that the BJP-led NDA would be capable of contesting only 80 seats in the state.

     In a post on X, Yadav reacted to a recent television interview of Adityanath in which he said the CM claimed that 1.27 crore Hindu voters were missing from the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and that the number of Muslim voters had increased by 1.65 per cent.

     Sharing a clip of the interview, Yadav challenged Adityanath to repost one of his earlier posts from his official social media account if he genuinely believed that 1.27 crore votes had been deleted.

     "Only the wearer best knows when the shoe pinches," Yadav wrote, invoking a Hindi proverb to suggest that the CM was now experiencing the concerns that the opposition had been raising over the voter revision exercise.

     Taking a further swipe at Adityanath, he said, "What is the difference between you and us now, neither in the complaints nor in the sorrows that you and we share."

     In the interview, Adityanath had claimed that around 55 lakh Hindu beneficiaries of government welfare schemes and 4.5 lakh voters in the 18-19 age group were among those whose names were missing from the electoral rolls. He also said that the number of Muslim voters had increased by 1.65 per cent after the SIR.

     In another post on X earlier in the day, Yadav responded to Adityanath's '80:20' remark, saying the CM's formulation meant that the BJP-led alliance would be capable of contesting only 80 seats, while the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) alliance would prove to be better than the NDA.

     Adityanath, in the interview, had said the upcoming election would be an '80:20' contest, with 80 per cent of voters supporting nationalism, cultural nationalism, good governance, security and prosperity, and backing the BJP and NDA, while the remaining 20 per cent would support those opposed to these issues.

     The '80:20' formulation has figured prominently in the state's political discourse, including in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections. It has also been interpreted by political observers as carrying a communal undertone.

     Yadav has repeatedly questioned the conduct of the SIR exercise, alleging irregularities in the inclusion and deletion of names from electoral rolls. The SP has also raised objections through party delegations and representations to election authorities.

     The EC and UP's electoral authorities have, however, rejected several allegations of large-scale or deliberate manipulation, maintaining that the revision process follows statutory procedures.

     The Uttar Pradesh polls are due in 2027, with the next polls expected in the early months of the year, although the EC has not announced the schedule. The BJP-led NDA has been in power in the state since 2017, with the SP widely regarded as its principal political challenger in the upcoming contest.