Won’t trust EVMs even if we get 80 UP seats, says Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, July 2

Samajwadi Party chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing the Lower House during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.

Yadav labelled the Modi-Yogi administration as a “double engine failure” in delivering on promises made to people of Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav pointed out the rampant problem of paper leaks, which has plagued job seekers in the state: “The youth of Uttar Pradesh are suffering due to repeated exam paper leaks. This problem isn’t confined to UP alone; even the NEET exam has been compromised. The truth is, this government doesn’t want to provide jobs. What hope can we have from a government that kills the aspirations of its people?”

Questioning the authenticity of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), Yadav said, “I did not trust EVMs yesterday, I don’t trust them today. And even if I win all 80 seats, I will not trust EVMs,” he said and added “the issue of EVMs is not dead, and we Samajwadis will remain adamant on it”.

Referring to victory of SP’s Awadesh Pratap in Faizabad (which has the temple town of Ayodhya), who was sitting next to him, Yadav said, “We have brought a message of love from Ayodhya.” “Caste census is crucial to bring development for all and we are in favor of it,” he added.

Condemning the Agniveer scheme, he said, “Every senior military officer opposes it. We will never accept it, and when we return to power, we will abolish it.”

Yadav also touched on agricultural issues. He said, “The government cannot establish markets; what support can they provide for farmers?” The Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be extended to horticultural crops. This government has taken away numerous jobs, he added.

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee mocked the BJP’s “400 paar” slogan by referring to popular game “Choo kit kit” and Mamata Banerjee’s well-known poll slogan “Khela Hobe”. Banerjee said the Prime Minister now has to use two crutches — Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) — to run the government.

Congress MP KC Venugopal also criticised the NDA government for multiple infrastructure failures, citing roof/canopy collapses at Delhi, Jabalpur and Rajkot airports, among other issues. He accused the BJP of overseeing a period where “every building is under threat of collapsing”. (With PTI inputs)