Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that the party will soon write to the Election Commission seeking a ban on surveys by media organisations and other agencies for six months before parliamentary and state elections, NDTV reported.
Mayawati made the remarks while addressing a rally to mark the 15th death anniversary of the party’s founder Kanshi Ram at the Kanshiram Smarak Sthal.
The BSP chief said that before the West Bengal Assembly election results, opinion polls had shown the Trinamool Congress would not win the polls.
“But the result turned out to be the opposite,” she said. “Those who were dreaming of power...their dreams were shattered, and Mamata Banerjee returned with a huge majority.”
Mayawati also urged the crowd at the rally not to be influenced by such surveys.
She made the statement a day after an opinion poll by ABP-CVoter showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to comfortably win the Uttar Pradesh elections that are slated for February or March 2022.
The survey predicted that the BJP might win 241 to 249 seats in the 403-member Assembly. It also said that the BSP would be able secure only 15 to 19 seats in the 2022 election.
In the 2017 Assembly election in the state, the BSP had won 19 seats.
At the rally on Saturday, Mayawati also accused the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government of using the state machinery to influence the political opinions of voters, PTI reported.
“It is also known to everyone that when these tactics do not work, then that party [BJP] will eventually give the election a Hindu-Muslim colour, and try to take full political advantage in its garb,” she said. “Elections have to be fought keeping this in mind.”
Mayawati also said that there are some small parties who are in the fray not to win the election, but to give an advantage to the ruling party from behind the scenes. She appealed to voters not to be influenced by such parties.
The politician did not name a specific party, but it appeared that she was referring to the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, which is an alliance of some other regional outfits led by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar.
Rajbhar had claimed in September that Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad will soon join the alliance, and a formal announcement about it will be made on October 27, according to PTI.
In June, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi had announced that his party will fight the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections with the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. He said the AIMIM will field candidates in 100 seats in the state.
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