Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was one of the signers of a petition to drop capital punishment of the 26/11 terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab.

The post claiming Akhilesh Yadav signed the mercy petition for Ajmal Kasab is a hoax.

The post claiming Akhilesh Yadav signed the mercy petition for Ajmal Kasab is a hoax.Ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, fake claims targeting political parties are spread on social media. A viral post shared by users alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was one among the petitioners who sought the commutation of Kasab's death sentence.

Ajmal Kasab was the lone terrorist captured from the 26/11 terror attack that killed 166 people and was executed on November 21, 2012. Before that, his lawyer had filed a mercy petition to the President of India seeking commutation of the court's death sentence. The petition was signed by 203 persons, according to a report published by the Indian Express dated November 21, 2012. On verifying, we found that the petition was signed by prominent personalities from all walks of life, but the list nowhere mentions the name of Akhilesh Yadav.

Yug Chaudhry, the criminal lawyer who filed the petition, was quoted as saying, "In the first batch sent to the president, 203 people had signed the petition. About 15-20 more signatures were obtained in the second batch sent to the president.

Furthermore, we did not find any other sources which mentioned Yadav's name in the case. If it were real, it would have been widely reported in the media outlets. Therefore, we mark the claim false.