Akhilesh's impersonating wolf vs EC's crying wolf

Since the release of the first draft of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, political parties have periodically raised concerns over the process and the deletions. All major parties, including the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP), have asked their workers to ensure that no genuine voter or party supporter is wrongly removed from the rolls.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Uttar Pradesh, has been responding to complaints in real time on social media and directing district magistrates to address issues flagged by voters. However, attention has now shifted to the nature of the Election Commission's online exchanges with political parties, particularly the Samajwadi Party.

On Wednesday, the SP's media cell posted on X claiming that after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said around four crore voters had been deleted, the Election Commission "quickly added" one crore voters. In response, the CEO's official X handle issued a detailed clarification. In the concluding part of the post, it added: "In Aesop's Fables, there is a famous story, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. It is a moralistic tale."


The reference was to the story of a shepherd boy who repeatedly raised false alarms about a wolf attacking his flock, eventually losing the trust of villagers who ignored his call when a real wolf appeared.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav responded by sharing another story titled The Impersonating Wolf on his X handle. The tale described an impostor who carried out tasks for a king while disguised as a wolf, but was eventually exposed and imprisoned. The reference was widely seen as being directed at the CEO's office.