Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Savitri Bai Phule, who had joined Congress before the Lok Sabha elections, quit the party on Thursday saying that her voice was not being heard, NDTV reported. The politician, who had joined the Congress in March, said she will form her own party.

“My voice is not being heard in Congress and hence I am resigning,” Phule said. “When I pleaded to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi to let me protest against the violation of the Constitution and use of EVMs [electronic voting machines], she said that it was her government who had brought the idea of EVM and that I cannot protest against it.” Phule claimed that the Constitution was in danger and that she believed paper ballots should replace EVMs.

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Phule said her new party would follow the motto of “Bahujan Hitaye, Bahujan Sukhaye [for the benefit and happiness of the masses]”. A well-known Scheduled Caste leader, she had resigned from the BJP’s basic membership on BR Ambedkar’s death anniversary in 2018. She had then alleged that the BJP was attempting to “create divisions in the society”, according to News18.

Congress fielded her as a candidate during General Elections from Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh. She lost the seat to BJP’s Akshaibar Lal, and came third with just 34,000 votes.

She also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJP’s ideological parent, for bringing about inequality in the society. Before quitting BJP on December 6 last year, she had criticised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath for saying that Hindu deity Hanuman was a Dalit.

Phule was initially a part of Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, and later joined the BJP in 2000. She contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2002, 2007 and 2012. She was elected to the state Assembly in 2012 after winning from Balha constituency in Bahraich district. She became a Lok Sabha MP in 2014.