SP, BSP allege EVMs rigged, demand polls by ballot papers

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP on Saturday attributed the BJP's massive win in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls to "EVM tampering" and demanded that the next Lok Sabha elections be held by ballot papers instead.

" The BSP would have won more number of mayoral seats if the elections had been held by ballot papers,'" BSP supremo Mayawati told reporters here.

"The BJP will lose 2019 Lok Sabha polls if ballot papers are used in polling," she said.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav, whose party drew a blank in the mayoral polls, also echoed a similar sentiment.

"The BJP has won only 15% seats where ballot papers were used. Its winning percentage however rose to 46 where EVMs were used," Akhilesh said.

The two parties had claimed after the drubbing in this year's Assembly polls that the electronic voting machines had been tampered with by the BJP.