NEW DELHI: A day after the Supreme Court declared using religion to woo voters as illegal, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati on Tuesday issued a plea to Muslim voters “to not split their vote.”
In the wake of the unrest in the Samajwadi Party, the BSP supremo playing to the minority voters has announced fielding 97 Muslim candidates – a dozen more than in 2012 and the highest ever in its history. Interestingly, this number is also 10 more than the number of Dalit candidates the party is fielding in the upcoming elections.
The leader further announced that this will be the final list of the party:
“There will be no change in the list now… We are strong enough to fight alone.”
Mayawati Asks Muslims to be Extra Cautious
Mayawati, while addressing the media in Lucknow, said that Muslims would have to be extra cautious in the coming assembly elections and not waste their vote on the Samajwadi Party, which she said was on the verge of splitting.
“The Samajwadi Party has been divided into two. Muslims have to be very careful. They should not divide their vote.”
Don’t Believe in Caste Politics : Mayawati
Mayawati rubbished accusations that she believed in caste-based politics.
“We believe in the concept of Sarvjan Hitaya (wellbeing of all) and had allocated seats to all castes,” she said, giving a break-up how many caste and religious groups got how many seats to contest the last time.
Luring both Muslim and upper caste votes, Mayawati said her regime took care of the upper castes.
Fighting on all 403 seats, the party has given 66 seats to Brahmins, Kshatriyas got 36 seats and other groups were allocated 11 seats.
(With inputs from IANS, The Indian Express.)