Lucknow: After a Narendra Modi tsunami in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP on course to win 350 seats, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati claimed that the saffron party had hijacked the elections with the help of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also thanked her alliance partners Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal for their efforts.
The BSP fought the election in the state with the SP and the RLD. Mayawati’s party contested 38 seats in the state. As per counting trends at 8.30 pm, the BSP had won one seat and was leading in 10. The SP, contesting 37 seats, was leading in five. The RLD, meanwhile, lost all the three seats from where it was contesting.
Addressing the media on Thursday evening as the results were being announced, Mayawati said, “People from 80 seats in UP, 40 seats in Bihar and 42 seats in West Bengal were unhappy with the Modi government, but the results of the Lok Sabha elections are exactly the opposite. These results raise doubts not just in the minds of political parties but also in the minds of the common people.
“If they have nothing to hide, why don’t they get polls conducted through ballot paper instead of EVMs?” she asked. “BJP and company have hijacked the elections with the help of EVMs, people now don’t have faith in EVMs. Neither the BJP nor the Election Commission is ready to conduct elections with ballot paper, this again raises a doubt.”
It appeared that EVMs in several places had been rigged, alleged Mayawati. “After looking at the results in Uttar Pradesh, it seems that a few seats were left as part of their planning so that people don’t doubt them. But at most places it seems that the EVMs were rigged,” she said. “People are watching everything and they will give a befitting reply at the apt time. Even the Supreme Court should now think in this direction.”
Mayawati said the alliance partners would soon chalk out their future strategy. “The results in other states were also not as per our expectations,” she said. “However, we will continue our struggle by following in the footsteps of Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
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