Saifai: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, his wife and SP candidate from Mainpuri Lok Sabha Seat, Dimple Yadav cast their vote at a polling station in Uttar Pradesh's Saifai. After casting his vote, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the ruling BJP party would face a very bad defeat as people of every section were upset with the government.
Speaking with the reporters, Akhilesh Yadav said, "... BJP is going to have a very bad defeat because farmers, youth, businessmen, people of every section are upset with them."
Yadav also alleged that the leaders of the BJP should be punished for deliberately conducting the elections in the summer season. He said, "We are voting in summer and BJP people should also be punished for this, although they will say that this is the decision of the Election Commission, BJP people deliberately make you vote in the summer to hurt you. This voting could have taken place a month earlier."
The SP chief also appealed to the people to vote and said, "I appeal to all my colleagues and voters to vote in large numbers. This voting can change the lives of people."
The SP chief also alleged that the BJP leaders and workers tried to capture the booth and said, "We hope that the Election Commission will take action on the complaints that are coming. It is being heard at many places that BJP workers and leaders want to capture the booth. I saw an official here who was abusing people... I will appeal to the voters to vote in large numbers and remove this government..."
The polling is going on for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
In Uttar Pradesh, voting is underway in 10 seats: Sambhal, Hathras, Mainpuri, Agra (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, and Bareilly.
In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray.
A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others.
In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4. —ANI
