By-poll results are clear message to BJP: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said the voters of Uttar Pradesh in Gorakhpur and Phulpur had sent a loud and clear message that they were disgusted with the BJP.

The former Chief Minister said he hoped the drubbing given to the Bharatiya Janata Party by the people would bring down the arrogance of its leadership.

Addressing the media where newly elected party MPs Pravin Kumar Nishad and Nagendra Singh Patel were present, Yadav said that had all EVMs in the two Lok Sabha constituencies -- which went to the polls on Sunday -- worked properly, the victory margin of his party would have been much higher.

"Some EVMs, when checked, were found to have already registered votes. People could not express their anger properly through EVMs. If there were paper ballots, their anger would have been properly expressed," he said.

Yadav termed the Samajwadi Party victory in the two seats a "win for the backward, marginalised, farmers and minorities" who he said were at the receiving end of the arrogance and anti-people policies of the governments of Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi.

The 44-year-old also credited the youths for the BJP's rout.

Asked how soon he planned to visit Delhi to work for opposition unity, he said he was in no hurry to visit the national capital.

On Wednesday, Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated BJP's Kaushlendra Singh Patel by 59,460 votes in Phulpur while Pravin Nishad, backed by the Bahujan Samaj Party, defeated his BJP rival by 21,961 votes in Gorakhpur.

--IANS

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