'Vote For Us, Otherwise...': Samajwadi Party's Shivpal Yadav Threatens Voters In UP's Budaun | Watch

Days before the first phase of Lok Sabha Election 2024, Samajwadi Party senior leader Shivpal Yadav landed in a controversy for allegedly bullying and threatening voters in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun. A video of the purported incident is going viral on social media, where the Samajwadi Party candidate from Budaun can be heard saying, “We will seek everyone’s vote. If you vote for us, it is all right. Nahin toh hisaab-kitaab bhi hoga (Otherwise, we will settle the matter later).”

In the video, SP’s Sahaswan MLA Brajesh Yadav and Shivpal’s son Aditya Yadav can also be seen sharing the stage with the senior leader.

Shivpal Yadav is currently an SP MLA from Jaswantnagar in Etawah district.

Samajwadi Party Issues Clarification

After the video went viral, Brajesh Yadav claimed that it was being presented after twisting its content.

“This video is of March 15. It was when Shivpal Yadav was going towards Gunnaur. He made the statement in the Bilsi Assembly constituency of Budaun,” he told news agency PTI.

Later, speaking to a news channel, Shivpal Yadav said, “That video, which was shown, was 20-25 seconds. What was spoken before that (video) and after that was not shown. I had only said for those who had become MLAs after contesting the assembly elections as SP candidates, but had voted for the other parties.”

Further, the people will do the “hisaab-kitaab” (settle accounts) from them in the upcoming elections, he added.

BJP Slams SP

Reacting to the video, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal said threatening and bullying people is the basic character of the SP.

In a press conference in Lucknow, Lal referred to the video and said Shivpal Yadav threatening to settle accounts for not voting in Budaun exposes the reality of the SP.

“Shivpal Yadav threatening people who do not vote for his party and saying about settling accounts with such people have made it very clear that criminals, mafia and rioters are very close to the SP. This is not the first time that the SP leaders are saying this. The public has seen and tolerated their actions,” the BJP MP said.

In the 2022 assembly elections, at least one of their candidates in every district had been a criminal or a known goon of the area, Lal alleged.

Targeting the opposition parties, he said the INDI alliance is an advocate of “one district, one mafia”.

“They should not forget that Modi ji is running the government in the country and Yogi ji is running the government as the chief minister of BJP in the state. They know very well how to treat goons and mafia,” Lal, who is a retired IPS officer, added.

Probe On

Meanwhile, Budaun District Magistrate Manoj Kumar said, “We have traced the video, and information about this video has been sought by the office of the chief electoral officer of UP. The contents of the video are being probed. Based on the probe report, action will be taken.”

Budaun will go to the polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7.