UP bypolls: BSP won't contest again till EC stops 'fake' voting, says Mayawati

Lucknow: Lucknow: Alleging irregularities in the voting, BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday said that her party would not contest bypolls in future until the Election Commission (EC) took effective steps to stop what she said ‘’fake voting’’.

BSP, which contested all the nine seats in the recently concluded assembly by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, failed to win any seat and its nominees lost their security deposits on seven seats.

‘’Until the EC takes steps to completely stop fake voting, the BSP will not contest bypolls,’’ Mayawati said while speaking to reporters here.

The BSP supremo said that official machinery was ‘misused’ during the polling. ‘’A conspiracy is being hatched to weaken the BSP... all the parties are working to check BSP,’’ she alleged.

Mayawati also took potshots at Azad Samaj Party founder and Lok Sabha MP Chandrashekhar and asked the Dalit community not to support smaller parties in the polls. ‘’All these parties have been formed at the behest of other parties,’’ she claimed.

Without taking the name of Chandrashekhar, she said that some members of the Dalit community had ‘sold’ themselves and formed their own outfits with the help of ‘’anti-Dalit’’ parties. ‘’These big parties also help such smaller outfits win a few seats,’’ she said.

BSP supremo’s announcement came after her party’s dismal performance in the recent bypolls. BSP, which contested the bypolls after a gap of 14 years, but failed to win any seat.