Income-tax officials searched premises of three people associated with Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday morning, prompting the Samajwadi Party president to allege an “election-time trick” by the ruling BJP.

Tax sleuths searched homes and offices in Lucknow, Mau, Agra and Mainpuri from 8am till about noon, with anonymous department sources alleging that black money was being disbursed from these addresses to bribe voters.

Akhilesh alleged the raids were the result of the BJP’s fear of defeat at the hands of his party in the upcoming Assembly elections.

“Maybe (raids by) the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI will follow soon,” he told reporters in Rae Bareli, flagging the ruling BJP’s reputation for targeting political opponents with central investigative agencies.

Akhilesh has been conducting a Rath Yatra for the last three weeks, drawing large crowds across the state.

Tax officials arrived at the bungalow of Samajwadi spokesperson Rajiv Rai in the Shazadpur area of Mau city and locked the gates from inside before starting a search with the help of local police.

Rai, who uses the bungalow as a party election office, came up to the gates and told reporters: “They have raided me to intimidate me and prevent me from working for the people.”

Teams also raided the Lucknow addresses of Gajendra Singh, who was officer on special duty to Akhilesh when he was chief minister between 2012 and 2017, and now manages the Samajwadi president’s schedule.

Singh lives in the Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow and owns another house in the city’s Indira Nagar locality.

The other person raided was Manoj Yadav, Samajwadi member and aide to Akhilesh. Manoj is a government civil contractor by profession and owns houses in Agra and Mainpuri town.

Income-tax department sources claimed that the raided premises were hubs of “financial management” for the Assembly polls.

An official who wouldn’t be quoted alleged that black money was being used in the poll campaign. He said “laptops, papers and bank details” had been seized.

Akhilesh sought support from the media. “You are supposed to show the truth, but I know that you too will be targeted for being upright. However, I assure you that the Samajwadi Party will erase the BJP from Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said: “The people know who is corrupt and why such raids are being conducted.”