E-Paper
‘Electronic booth capturing’ led to BJP’s win: Akhilesh
Akhilesh Yadav said SP workers and those harassed in Kundarki were stopped by the police in Sitapur when they were on way to Lucknow to participate in Akhilesh’s press conference on Sunday
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has come down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party and police officials for alleged “electronic booth capturing” in the bypolls held to fill nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The results were declared on Saturday with the BJP-led NDA winning seven seats and the SP two.
Yadav also claimed the Sambhal incident was deliberately planned by the BJP to divert attention from “cheating” in the bypolls.
He made these points at a press conference at the SP office in Lucknow on Sunday.
The SP’s Kundarki candidate Haji Mohammad Rizwan, who was also present, claimed that police officials along with outsiders wreaked havoc in Kundarki. If the elections had been held impartially, the SP would have won by a margin of 1 lakh votes, Rizwan said.
Addressing media persons, Akhilesh said, “On the polling day, SP booth agents were removed first. After that, SP voters were stopped from going to the booths. I want to know if the voters didn’t reach the booths, then who cast the votes? If forensic investigation of EVMs is done, it will make it clear how many times a single finger pressed the button. Votes of those who do not have marks on their fingers have also been cast.”
He also said SP workers and those harassed in Kundarki were stopped by the police in Sitapur when they were on way to Lucknow to participate in Akhilesh’s press conference on Sunday.
They were taken to police station without any reason, he said.
On the tension in Sambhal, Yadav said it was a deliberate attempt by the BJP to divert people’s attention from what had happened in the bypolls.
“The atmosphere is being deliberately spoiled in Sambhal. When the survey was done earlier, then why is the survey being done again? Everything is being done in Sambhal so that there is no discussion on the rigging in the elections,” he alleged.
“This is electronic booth capturing of the new age. The BJP is thinking that PDA will be disappointed by this, this will not happen. People came in plain clothes and cast votes. Just like Hitler had created private troops, private people went and cast their votes in this election. You did not see what happened in Chandigarh? A developed country like Germany has declared EVM unconstitutional,” he said.
“Our PDA is all about bringing people together and that is what has irked the BJP. If they think this will break PDA, then they are wrong, Atrocities bring people together,” Akhilesh Yadav said, asserting that his PDA formula was intact.
