Akhilesh Yadav Claims BJP ‘Deliberately Lost’ Bankipur, Datia Bypolls To Counter EVM Criticism

Published 6 August 2026 · politics

News india Akhilesh Yadav Claims BJP ‘Deliberately Lost’ Bankipur, Datia Bypolls To Counter EVM Criticism Akhilesh Yadav Claims BJP ‘Deliberately Lost’ Bankipur, Datia Bypolls To

News india Akhilesh Yadav Claims BJP ‘Deliberately Lost’ Bankipur, Datia Bypolls To Counter EVM Criticism Akhilesh Yadav Claims BJP ‘Deliberately Lost’ Bankipur, Datia Bypolls To Counter EVM Criticism Published By, Last Updated: August 06, 2026, 09:36 IST Targeting the BJP over its defeat in Bankipur, the SP chief claimed leaders of the ruling party were celebrating the loss. Rapid Read Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. (Image: PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday alleged that the BJP intentionally lost the recent assembly bypolls in Bihar’s Bankipur and Madhya Pradesh’s Datia to counter criticism of the electoral process and create the perception that election results could not be questioned. Speaking at a Brahmin Sammelan organised at the SP’s state headquarters on the birth anniversary of socialist leader Janeshwar Mishra, Yadav claimed the BJP did not employ the same election strategy in the two bypolls that it had allegedly used in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

“The BJP deliberately lost these bypolls because it wanted to check whether elections could be won without dishonesty. It did not adopt in Bankipur and Datia the model that it had adopted in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The BJP has lost these byelections only to mislead the people," Yadav alleged. He further accused the ruling party of trying to neutralise Opposition attacks on the electoral system. “Now they will say that opposition parties will no longer raise questions about EVMs. They have deliberately lost these bypolls to deceive the public," he said. Targeting the BJP over its defeat in Bankipur, the SP chief claimed leaders of the ruling party were celebrating the loss. “After losing the Bankipur election, BJP leaders themselves are distributing sweets among their own colleagues.

Just wait, by the time elections come, all those sitting in the Uttar Pradesh government will be roaming around with boxes of sweets asking someone to accept them. But Samajwadi Party workers will not take even one of them into our fold," he said. In a veiled reference to former SP leaders, including Manoj Kumar Pandey, who later joined the BJP and became ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government, Yadav said the party would promote dedicated workers to fill the vacancies left behind. “Those who have left us are free to go. It is we who will fill the space they have vacated," he said. His remarks came days after Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor secured victory in the Bankipur assembly bypoll in Bihar, while Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh defeated the BJP in the Datia bypoll in Madhya Pradesh.