Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that the results of the urban local bodies in Uttar Pradesh would have been different had there been no foul play.

Talking to reporters after expressing condolence at the Fatehpura residence of former party leader Mahavir Singh Yadav, Akhilesh said that a large number of officers are working as BJP workers. “BJP should review how much cheating was done through the officers in the civic elections. “In Saharanpur, an officer was shunted and now preparations are being made to send him on leave for declaring the result in an impartial manner,” he alleged.

He said that the results would have been different if the officers had not committed dishonesty in the civic elections. “From the voter list to the behaviour of the government employees, it seems that the civic body elections were conducted under the pressure of the government, but this time the public will work to drive BJP out in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

On the question of polarisation of Muslim votes by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musalmeen (AIMIM), the SP chief said that at some places BJP itself contests elections and at other places, it puts forward other parties. So in the coming time, these parties will have to think with whom democracy will survive and with whom it will not survive.

He said that this time the vote percentage of SP has increased as compared to the previous civic polls. On the achievements of the central government in nine years, he said that 6 to 7 basic problems and questions still persist. Inflation and unemployment are at their peak even today. “The officers of the country and the state are working as office bearers of BJP,” he said.
Akhilesh, who reached his ancestral village Saifai for the first time after the results of the civic body election,s met the losing and winning candidates. He congratulated the newly elected chairman.