On her birthday, Mayawati says no to alliance; alleges EVM sabotage

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati turned 67 today. On her birthday, the BSP chief addressed a press conference where she elaborated on her party's plan for the next elections. While refuting the possibility of any alliance, she questioned the authenticity of the Electronic Voting Machine. She also continued her attack on the ruling BJP and asked the party workers to roll up their sleeves in a bid for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

BSP is celebrating Mayawati's birthday as 'Jan Kalyankari Diwas'. BSP's performance in the last 10 years has been very abysmal. Since it was voted out of the power in 2012 assembly election, it has failed to regain its shine be it the 2017 assembly polls, the 2019 general election or the 2022 assembly polls. At a time when opposition parties are trying to put up a united front to counter BJP, Mayawati maintained that her party's ideology is different.

"The BSP will not ally with any party in the Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka assembly election as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha election...We will fight polls on our own. Congress and a few other parties are trying to ally with us but our ideology is different from other parties," she said.

Raising a question mark on the EVM, Mayawati alleged, "Something is wrong with EVM, some are sabotaging it, during ballot paper time, our number of seats and percentage of votes used to increase in all polls. Polls must be conducted with ballot paper again."

Hitting out at the ruling BJP, she said that it's due to the wrong policies of the saffron party-led government that people are facing a natural disaster. She was apparently referring to the sinking of the Joshimath town in Uttarakhand.