Akhilesh elected SP national president for third time, accuses EC of 'deleting' Muslim-Yadav voters

Taking over from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav became SP president for the first time at an emergency meeting of the party in January 2017

Akhilesh Yadav was Thursday elected national president of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the third consecutive time.

SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters here that Akhilesh was unanimously elected national president of the party at the party's national convention here. Akhilesh was the only candidate for the top post.

Addressing party workers after being elected president, Akhilesh launched a scathing attack on the BJP and accused it of "destroying" constitutional bodies and other central agencies and using them against the opposition parties.

He also accused the Election Commission (EC) of "deleting" names of Muslim and Yadav voters from the voters' list before the March assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh at the direction of the BJP and its alliance partners. ''The EC reduced the number of Muslim and Yadav voters by 20 thousand in every assembly constituency in the state.....it can be probed....it is a serious crime as it deprived the people to exercise their franchise,'' he added.

He said that the BJP always lied to the people. ''German dictator Hitler had a propaganda minister in his cabinet but in the BJP, all the leaders lied,'' he remarked. ''Let us pray to God that during this Navratra (nine-day long Hindu festival), the BJP leaders start speaking the truth. But then they will be exposed if they told the truth,'' Akhilesh said.

The SP president exhorted the party workers to take a pledge to "oust" the BJP from power. ''We will have to write a new history and take a pledge to dethrone the BJP,'' he said, asking the party officials to speed up the task of adding new members.