Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of influencing and tampering with the bypolls scheduled for Wednesday. He also accused the BJP of booth capturing. Akhilesh Yadav had earlier said the Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls are a fight between those who believe in Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and those who believe in "Baba", alluding to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In Uttar Pradesh, nine assembly seats are going to polls on November 20 — Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur City), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).
"...BJP is deliberately trying to give 'Red Card' to the people. Why the patrolling of security forces is being done at the booths of the Samajwadi Party only?..," Akhilesh Yadav said.
Countering the SP chief's claim, BJP's deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "There is no place for fake voting and booth capturing in democracy. SP's old habits of booth capturing and fake voting will not succeed this time. There is an appeal to the Election Commission to ensure fair and transparent voting. Also, strict action should be taken against SP's conspiracy to get fake voting done by making people wear burqa. For fair elections, it is necessary to ensure special checking of voters who vote wearing burqa."
Eight of these seats fell vacant after their MLAs were elected as Lok Sabha MPs, while a bypoll is being held on the Sisamau seat due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case. In the 2022 assembly polls, Sishamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki were held by the SP, while the BJP won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair. The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD, which is now an ally of the BJP in the NDA.
The Congress is not contesting the bypolls and supporting its INDIA bloc partner SP, while the BSP is contesting solo on all nine seats.
