Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has reiterated his demand for restoration of the ballot papers for conducting elections and phasing out of the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

In an obvious dig at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Akhilesh Yadav said that those who had declared themselves as number one through false propaganda should also get the elections done through the ballot paper as was done in the countries, which were number one in the world.

“The BJP government is number one in cheating the public. Its foundation rests only on propaganda, lies and corruption. You give money to a company and the company will tell you that you are number one in the world. The number one country in the world votes through a ballot,” the SP chief said on Friday.

“If you have become number one in the world then copy it and get voting done through ballot, only then will the people accept it,” he added.

The SP chief’s remarks on the EVMs come against the backdrop of the recent assembly elections in five states of the country, in which the BJP won three and the Congress one.

Yadav said the BJP “misleads people just by making tall claims”.

“They do not have a single development work of their own to show. All their claims are false and fake,” he added.

On the preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP chief said, “The BJP came to power because of Uttar Pradesh in 2014 and 2019 and they will go out of power in 2024 because the questions related to the promises which they had made to the people remain unfulfilled.”

Yadav further said that the BJP’s claims of massive investment in Uttar Pradesh existed only on paper, including the investment of Rs 40 lakh crore in the name of the investors’ summit.

“It has been heard that those who had signed the MoUs are not being found. The government machinery is searching for them. Development of the state is not possible under a capitalist government,” he added.