BSP to move court against UP govt

“Nearly 9,000 votes were declared invalid at Aligarh on the plea that the returning officer had not signed the ballot papers while all of them voted in favour of the BSP. There have also been reports of the local administration taking on the role of BJP agents in many places but the most glaring case is the one in Aligarh and we will not sit idle on the issue,” said BSP leader Mayawati while talking to mediapersons today evening.

She said that had the BJP government spared it on this count, the party would make it a point to repeat the deliberate folly in Assembly elections and hence the court’s intervention was a must. She also alleged bunglings in countings at Agra and Moradabad.

Though the BSP could bag only one of the total 11 mayoral seats, its nominees had come second in many places and were defeated by a slender margin, which has made the firebrand party leader elated. “Civic poll results have sent out a clear message that the BSP has now made its presence felt in urban pockets. We are transforming from a Bahujan Samaj Party to a sarv samaj party because we got votes from upper castes and also from Muslims in civic polls,” she claimed.

Launching a tirade against the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said that the party has performed badly in civic polls and has also lost grip of Muslim votes, which could be corroborated in losing of deposit by its nominees in mayoral elections at places with large number of Muslim population. “The SP nominees have lost their deposit at Moradabad, Aligarh and Ghaziabad. All these places have large population of Muslims, she pointed out.

Mayawati also expressed happiness over the emergence of the Congress as a force to reckon with in civic polls .“Congress’s emergence has clear indications that there will be a four-corner contest in Assembly polls which will be advantageous to the BSP,” she said.