The former minister in Yogi Adityanath government and Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya has raised questions on electronic voting machines (EVMs), days after SP lost in the 2022 UP Assembly polls. The SP leader who was contesting from the Fazilnagar seat had himself lost the elections.
The SP leader wrote on social media app Koo said, “The Samajwadi Party won on 304 seats in the ballot paper counting while the BJP won on just 99 seats. However, when the counting was done from EVM, the BJP won. This means there is some foul play in this.”
The former Minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet had rebelled and switched over to the Samajwadi Party a few days before the polls alleging the backwards and Dalits were being ignored in the Yogi government. Maurya who was a sitting three-time MLA from Padrauna seat of Kushinagar changed his seat and contested from Fazilnagar instead. Maurya was defeated by BJP’s Surendra Kumar Kushwaha by a margin of more than 45,000 votes.
However, now there are speculations about Maurya contesting from Karhal as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is said to retain his parliamentary seat of Azamgarh.
In case the SP chief resigns from the Karhal seat, it is speculated that Swami Prasad Maurya may be fielded from this ‘safe’ seat in an attempt to give a strong message to the OBC voters in the state.
The BJP along with its alliances had won 273 Assembly seats breaking the jinx that those in power changed by the people of UP every five years. The BJP alliance had won more than 320 seats in the 2017 State Assembly elections. While the Samajwadi Party alliance had managed to grab 125 seats increasing its tally from 47 seats.
