In Lucknow, party UP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the BJP had lost the civic polls badly. (PTI Photo) In Lucknow, party UP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the BJP had lost the civic polls badly. (PTI Photo)

ACCUSING THE BJP of misusing EVMs in the civic polls, results of which were declared on Friday, SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged that the ruling party had fared better in areas where EVMs were used instead of ballot papers for casting votes.

“In areas where ballot papers were used (in civic polls), the BJP had got 15 per cent of the votes. In areas where EVMs were used, they got 46 per cent of the votes. They have not managed to garner similar support (as in the case of Lok Sabha elections) in municipality or panchayat polls,” Akhilesh said in Kolkata to workers at SP’s state conference.

In Lucknow, party UP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the BJP had lost the civic polls badly. “Among the 75 districts, municipal corporation elections were held only at 16 places. They (BJP) have spoken about only half of the actual results…. In the 652 seats (mayors and chairpersons of nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats), the BJP lost 470 seats… Among 11,992 seats of corporators and members of nagar palika and nagar panchayat, it lost 9,812,” he said.

He added that while in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s winning percentage was 81.75 per cent for 71 seats, in the state polls earlier this year, the figure was 77.41 per cent for 312 seats. In Kolkata, Akhilesh extended his party’s support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying the country needed a secular leader to “fight the Centre’s politics of polarisation”.

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