Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) chief Mayawati on her 67th birthday on Sunday announced that her party won’t forge a poll alliance with any political party for the coming Lok Sabha or Assembly polls. She also demanded from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to bring back the old ballot system to conduct polls.
Speaking at a press conference here, Mayawati said that the BSP will not forge an alliance with anyone in the coming four state assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year and will contest on its own.
“Except for Punjab assembly elections, the BSP has not aligned with any bigger political outfit in the recent past. But now we have decided not to go for any alliance in the elections,” she clarified.
Mayawati held the EVM responsible for the downfall of her party and demanded that ballot papers should be reintroduced like in several other countries.
“People from time to time have questioned EVMs. We had also gone to the Supreme Court on the issue. But nothing happened,” she claimed while adding that after EVMs were fully introduced in 2014, the BSP started losing power.
She said that whenever elections were held through ballot papers, the base of the BSP increased.
Talking about the reservation controversy in the UP local body polls, the former UP Chief Minister said that now on the OBC reservation, the BJP has followed the path of Congress-SP.
On this occasion, Mayawati also released Volume 18 – ‘Travelogue of My Struggle – Ridden life and BSP movement’ which is also called as the blue book of BSP.
On the statement of a Bihar Minister that Baba Saheb Ambedkar started Manu Smriti, Mayawati said that it is absolutely clear that Baba Saheb Ambedkar did not start Manu smriti.
However, she said that she cannot comment on the Bihar Minister’s statement as she was not aware of the details and in what context the minister has said this.
The BSP president also ruled out any offer to the old party leaders to re-join her party. “Several of my former leaders are now holding the flag of other parties. We don’t need them now,” she said.