BSH NEWS UP election: Akhilesh Yadav claims ‘BJP trailing after 3rd phase’; pans ‘politics of hate’

Exuding confidence in his party’s poll performance, Akhilesh Yadav contended that BJP is trailing behind Samajwadi Party after the 3rd phase of the Uttar Pradesh election. He told the media on February 20 that the saffron party is not faring well despite complaints about EVM malfunctioning at multiple polling booths. Moreover, he accused the JP Nadda-led party of perpetuating politics of hate.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav remarked, “BJP is doing politics of hatred and dividing people. There have been complaints at many places in the third phase of polling, complaints were made about EVM malfunction at the polling booth. Despite this BJP is trailing.” 

BSH NEWS Uttar Pradesh election

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies.

While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. Though some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath’s future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP’s governance model during his successive visits to the state.

For the past several months, Akhilesh Yadav has embarked on a statewide tour as a part of his “Samajwadi Vijay Yatra” in a bid to stage a comeback in the state. Buoyed by the overwhelming public support during his election campaign, he has often predicted that SP will win 400 seats in the 2022 Assembly polls.

While the ex-UP CM has ruled out any alliance with Congress and BSP, he has announced a tie-up with PSP(L), Mahan Dal, OP Rajbhar’s SBSP, RLD and the Apna Dal faction of Krishna Patel.

On Sunday, 59 seats spread over 16 districts-Kasganj, Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi, and Lalitpur went to the polls. The polling for the remaining phases will take place on February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7. Moreover, the counting of votes is scheduled for March 10.