The Bharatiya Janata Party said that the opposition seemed to have conceded defeat as it had started talking about electronic voting machine (EVM) faults and this was testimony that this time too the National Democratic Alliance would win over 300 seats and Narendra Modi would be the next Prime Minister.

BJP national spokesperson Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi told newspersons in Lucknow on Wednesday that when the opposition parties won elections in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Phulpur and Kairana, the EVMs were working properly but now they had started working weirdly.

On Tuesday, during the third phase polling, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had spoken about malfunctioning of EVMs and accused the district authorities of manipulating the polling. Mayawati too has raised questions about the efficacy of EVMs. In New Delhi, 21 parties have filed a review petition in Supreme Court against the use of EVMs.

“This shows that the opposition is able to read the ground report. They know they are losing the election and therefore have started blaming the EVMs,” Trivedi said.

About Uttar Pradesh, the BJP leader said that after polling in three phases, the alliance had conceded defeat.

“The Election Commission is conducting polls in a free and fair manner but opposition leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, are targeting the poll panel to save their faces,” he said.

Hitting out at Congress, Trivedi said that a few months back, the same party formed governments in three states but in UP, the alliance was not ready to give them even three seats.

“This shows the position of Congress in Uttar Pradesh and where it stands. Even one of its leaders, Shatrughan Sinha, sees prime ministerial material in Akhilesh Yadav ignoring Rahul Gandhi. In this scenario, when the opposition parties are themselves divided in groups, talking about forming government at the Centre is nothing but hilarious. Only the BJP is contesting to form a government,” he said.

Patting the back of the BJP government, Trivedi said the Yogi Adityanath government had implemented development schemes and brought law and order under control as a result of which people were happy with his performance.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Prema Awasthi, who had contested mayoral election, joined the BJP.