People Have Spoken: Akhilesh Yadav on SP Win in Phulpur, Gorakhpur

The people have spoken, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said after the SP won the Phulpur and Gorakhpur seats.

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav (centre), with senior leaders Kiranmoy Nanda and Azam Khan, addresses a press conference after the by-election results, at the party headquarters in Lucknow on Wednesday 14 March 2018.

(Photo: PTI)

A day after the Samajwadi Party swept the Uttar Pradesh by-elections for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had a message for the country.

I want to thank the people of Gorakhpur and Phulpur. And I want to express my gratitude towards Mayawati <i>ji</i>. If this is the anger of people in the areas of the CM and the deputy CM, you can imagine the anger of the people in the rest of the country.&nbsp;

Akhilesh Yadav, President, Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party won in UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s five-time constituency, Gorakhpur, by a landslide 21,961 vote lead.

The Samajwadi Party also won the Lok Sabha seat in the Phulpur constituency, the seat which was vacated by Keshav Prasad Maurya when he became the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

They tried to back our candidates into a corner and intimidate them, but the people gave their mandate and proved that their support is for the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh Yadav, President, Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party chief and former UP Chief Minister also added that had electronic voting machines (EVMs) worked without a glitch, the victory margins of his party's candidates in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections would have been higher.

The ballot paper system was the best way of voting, the SP leader said, adding that it helped the people air their anger.

Had the EVMs worked smoothly, and had no time been wasted (in the voting process), the victory margins of the Samajwadi candidates would have been much higher. In several EVM machines, votes had already been cast (even before polling began).

Akhilesh Yadav, President, Samajwadi Party

Yadav, who congratulated the two victorious candidates in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, said the party had complained about the EVMS and "the Election Commission should take note of it".

"The entire anger of the voters could not come out through the EVMs. Had ballot papers been used, the impact of the anger would have been clear," he stressed.

(With inputs from PTI)