Akhilesh alleges rigging in UP Legislative Council polls

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged rigging in the UP Legislative Council polls as he accused the ruling BJP of the bid to weaken democratic institutions to retain power.

Yadav also accused the ruling party of promoting an particular caste and bypassing the Dalits and backward classes.

The results of the polls were announced on Tuesday. The Samajwadi Party drew a blank in the polls while the BJP bagged 33 of 36 seats.

“The BJP’s arbitrariness and rigging crossed all limits in the Legislative Council polls and history will never forgive it for what it has done to crush democracy,” Yadav said in a statement here.

“The BJP has no faith in the Constitution, democracy and the process of fair elections. It is trying to weaken constitutional institutions in order to remain in power by means of money and deceit,” he alleged.

Yadav said the BJP accused others of promoting casteism but in the elections 18 of the candidates who emerged victorious come from the caste of CM Yogi Adityanath.

“What kind of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ is this by bypassing SC/ST and the OBC? Socialists will continue to fight the battle to strengthen social justice through democracy,” Yadav said.

The Samajwadi Party had earlier written to the chief election commissioner, alerting him about “conspiracies” of the BJP, saying the ruling party can go to any extent to win the MLC elections.