In an apparent retort to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said today that those raising questions over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were afraid of facing the 2019 elections.
"We are making progress in a big way and this has caused jealously among some people...Opposition is terming the peoples' mandate as fault in the EVMs...there is a move to present ones own shortcomings and wrong policies as the fault of EVMs," Sharma told newspersons here.
He said that going by the claims of these critics, there was nothing wrong in the EVMs in the past 15 years when other parties formed governments.
"Now EVMs have started developing faults...what can be more humiliating for the people that their mandate is being challenged by raising a question mark on the EVMs ...This is like making a mockery of democracy," Sharma pointed out.
He said that some people were making fun of all the works being undertaken by the government and presenting an inaccurate picture before the people as they were afraid of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"I remember the statement of former J and K chief minister Omar Abdullah in which he had advised the Opposition parties to prepare for 2024 elections instead of 2019," Sharma said.
On Saturday last, Yadav had convened a meeting of opposition parties to mobilise opinion for demanding that the upcoming bye-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur be conducted through ballot papers instead of EVMs. But the Congress and BSP decided to stay away.
Sharma also attacked Yadav's statement on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's recent visit to Noida saying that BJP does not believe in any jinx and the chief minister will repeatedly go to Noida.
During a press conference yesterday, Yadav had taken potshots at Adityanath over the 'Noida jinx'.
"The impact of Noida jinx was visible. I have seen in pictures that he (Yogi) could not flag off or press the button for starting metro services," Yadav said.
To a question on potatoes being thrown on roads allegedly by farmers as a mark of protest,Sharma said the government was committed to safeguard the interests of farmers and there was no report of any farmer committing suicide in the state.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)