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Alleging “gadbadi” (discrepancies) in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) as the reason behind her party’s poor performance in recent elections, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday called for holding all the elections on ballot papers only and challenged the BJP-led Centre to do so. She also ruled out any alliance with any party in the upcoming Assembly polls in other states and 2024 Lok Sabha elections in a setback to the call for Opposition unity.
Speaking to mediapersons at the party headquarters in Lucknow on the occasion of her birthday – Mayawati turned 67 on Sunday – the BSP chief said: “Ups and downs are a part of politics… The BSP’s core vote base is intact. But in elections, sometimes other sections like the OBCs, minorities, and upper castes get misled due to the promises made by other parties –which caused damage to our party in the last few elections in the past.”
“I feel certain there is some gadbadi (discrepancy) in the EVMs. There are doubts about the EVMs. The Election Commission and the Centre should conduct all the elections in future on ballot papers. That will make it clear how many voters are with them and how many are with us… In last year’s Assembly elections, Dalit-populated areas voted for BSP, but when votes were counted in EVMs these votes were found polled to the ruling party (BJP),” the former chief minister said.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, BSP managed to win only one out of the 403 Assembly seats.
“The BSP’s vote share and the number of seats were steadily increasing till the elections were conducted using ballot papers. After the machines replaced ballot papers in the elections, our vote percentage and number (of seats) have been affected. Certainly, there is some discrepancy. This discrepancy started with the use of EVMs in the elections. It is also affecting our janadhar (vote base),” Mayawati said, adding that every vote and VVPAT slip should be tallied.
Mayawati said that even after winning a majority in the UP assembly elections in 2007, doubts of the BSP, and other parties, about the EVMs were not cleared and the matter reached the Supreme Court as well.
Speaking on the issue of Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati said that her party’s ideology was different from that of other Opposition parties and it will contest the elections without forming any alliance.
“I would like to make it clear that in the Assembly elections of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and in the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held next year, the BSP will not forge a coalition with any party and will contest the polls on its own strength,” Mayawati said, adding it became necessary for her to make the announcement as the Congress and some other parties, as part of a “conspiracy”, were allegedly trying to create an impression that they will be forging an alliance with the BSP.
“In electoral alliances forged once or twice in Uttar Pradesh and other states, barring Punjab, their (allies) votes were not transferred to us, due to which the BSP suffered losses… Hence, our party has decided to contest the Assembly polls and Lok Sabha polls on its own,” she added.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BSP contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). BSP had then won 10 Lok Sabha seats. Akhilesh Yadav’s SP won five seats and the smallest of the partners, Rashtriya Lok Dal, couldn’t open its account.
“The BSP will win the elections on the strength of coalition of bahujan samaj, including the Scheduled Castes, Schedules Tribes, OBCs and Muslims,” she added.
Attacking Congress, BJP and SP over the reservation, she said they did not fulfil their constitutional responsibilities. “The Congress, when it was in power, did not allow implementation of the Mandal Commission report and made SC/ST reservation ineffective. The BJP is following in the footsteps of the Congress in this case,” she said.
“The Samajwadi Party government in the state did not give rights to the people from the extremely backward castes and cheated them. The SP government removed 17 castes from the OBC list and put them on the SC list due to which they were deprived of OBC reservation.
“The SP government ended reservation in promotion in the state and tore the bill in Parliament,” she said.
Reacting to the BJP’s move to woo Pasmanda Muslims by holding special conventions for the community, the BSP chief said that Muslims were victims of the BJP’s wrong policies and hatred and they will not fall into its trap. “The divisive game plan of the BJP in the name of Pasmanda Muslims is not going to be successful as the Muslim community is the most oppressed and affected by their wrong policies… Muslim is first a Muslim and Pasmanda later,” she said.
Mayawati said farmers, labourers, small traders and other hardworking people are upset under the BJP regime. “The condition has deteriorated under the BJP regime. And in order to cover this up and divert people’s attention, new announcements are being made every day,” she said. “Due to their wrong policies and wrong way of working, Uttarakhand and other hilly states are affected,” she said, referring to land subsidence in the Himalayan town of Joshimath.
The BSP celebrated Mayawati’s birthday as ‘Jankalyankari Diwas’ (People’s Welfare Day). On the occasion, Mayawati unveiled the 18th volume of her self-authored book– “A Travelogue of My Struggle Ridden Life and BSP movement” in which she described the challenges she faced in executing the activities of the party and mission in the past year.
—With PTI Inputs
