Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of misusing the state machinery and intimidating the voters for winning the by-elections to seven UP Assembly seats.
He claimed that the electorate of the state have decided to ensure the victory of the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal candidates in the by-elections in all the seven constituencies.
Polling for the bypoll will be held on November 3.
The campaigning for the seven Assembly seats ended on Sunday evening.
Yadav alleged that the BJP never had faith in democratic convention and niceties and the ruling party could stoop to any low to win elections and grab power.
He urged the Election Commission to deploy Central Para-Military Forces for ensuring free and fair elections. He also urged the Election Commission to act tough on the complaints of violation of the model code of conduct during the campaigning.
The SP chief alleged that the ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government were camping in the poll-bound constituencies to influence the election.
He said the basic education minister was openly asking officials to ensure that the votes were cast in BJP’s favour.
Yadav said village pradhans, PDS shop owners, lekhpals and lower rung police personnel were being offered inducement or being intimidated to force people to vote for the ruling party.
Of the seven Assembly seats, Samajwadi Party has fielded candidates on six seats while the Rashtriya Lok Dal is contesting one seat — Bulandshahar. The SP has extended support to the RLD.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday appealed to voters to vote for her party candidates in the November 3 UP Assembly bypolls and send a political message to rivals.
“I appeal to the voters to make the BSP candidates successful so that the right political message goes to the rivals,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
In another tweet, the BSP chief said, “Campaigning for the 94 assembly seats in the second phase of Bihar assembly elections is ending today. And everybody’s focus is on the November 3 voting. My appeal to voters is that they have seen the governments of Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal. Now, one chance should be given to our new alliance.” The BSP, which is contesting on 80 seats in Bihar, has entered into an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Samaj Party.