Two days ahead of the results of the high-stake assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the state's prime opposition leader, Akhilesh Yadav, alleged that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being moved in Varanasi without keeping the local candidates informed.
The Election Commission should swiftly intervene and launch an inquiry into the matter, demanded Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party (SP) was projected to emerge as a distant second in the electoral battle by the exit polls that were released on March 7.
"Varanasi DM is transporting EVMs without giving any information to local candidates. EC should look into it," he said.
The SP chief added that videos captured by locals raise the question whether the voting machines "were being stolen".
"We need to be alert if EVMs are being transported this way. This is theft. We need to save our votes. We may go to court against it but before that, I want to appeal to people to save the democracy," he said.
The SP supremo also raised questions at the exit polls, claiming that their projections are contradicting the ground realities. "It should be revealed that who are sponsoring such exit polls, and at what cost they are being provided to the news channels," Yadav said, adding that his party-led alliance will cross the 300 seat-mark.
"The SP is winning seats like Varanasi South and Ayodhya...the reporters on the ground are well aware of it," he added.
"Exit polls are creating a perception that the BJP is winning... I instruct our party workers to keep a constant vigil on the places where EVMs are kept," he further said.
The SP leader, citing his sources, alleged that the principal secretary to the chief minister was calling DMs "asking them to slow down counting wherever the BJP is losing".
"This election is the final fight for democracy. People need to be prepared to fight for democracy," he added.
Notably, the major exit polls have predicted a comfortable victory for the BJP in the 403-seat UP elections. Their estimates differ, ranging from 222 to 326 seats for the saffron party, in the various surveys.
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