By PTI
LUCKNOW: The BJP is attempting fraud as the SP-led alliance is going to win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday, exhorting party workers to foil the ruling party’s conspiracies.
“Treat the counting centres as the pilgrimage of democracy. Go there and stand firm,” Yadav said in a tweet.
Foil every conspiracy by the ruling party to manipulate the election results, he said.
“The SP alliance is winning, that is why the BJP is trying to commit fraud,” Yadav added.
The SP president had on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of trying to steal votes and claimed a truck carrying EVMs was “intercepted” in Varanasi, but the Election Commission clarified that the machines were for training officials on counting duty and were not used in the elections.
In a statement issued late on Tuesday night, the office of the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh said that “rumours were spread by people of some political party by stopping the vehicle and alleging that these EVMs were used in elections”.
“According to the report sent by the district election officer (of Varanasi), it was found during the investigation that these EVMs were marked for training.
“To train the officials involved in counting duty, a session has been organised for March 9 (Wednesday),” it said.
Reports from districts suggested SP workers were checking vehicles of government officials near strong rooms where EVMs have been stored in Karhal, Badaun, Ballia and Sultanpur.
In Bareilly, ballot boxes and other election items were found inside a large garbage collection bin of the local municipality in Baheri area, and in Sonbhadra district, ballot slips were recovered from a box inside the vehicle of additional district magistrate, reports said.
