BSP will not contest bye-elections on 12 seats in UP: Mayawati

BSP will not contest bye-elections on 12 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and instead prepare for mid-term polls as the Akhilesh Yadav government "might fall within a year", party supremo Mayawati said today.
"We will do preparations for Assembly polls. There is a possibility that this (SP) government may fall within a year and mid-term polls will be held," told reporters here.
Mayawati said that at present she would stay in Delhi and strengthen the party in the states where elections are due in the next two years.
In Uttar Pradesh, 12 legislators -- 11 of BJP and one from its ally Apna Dal -- have been elected in the recent Lok Sabha polls necessitating bye-elections in the seats held by them in the near future.

"Generally, in bye-elections the Election Commission is not involved directly. Due to this, the ruling SP had in the past misused official machinery in such elections. That is why we will not waste our energy in bye-elections," she said.