Mayawati urges Dalits not to vote for Congress, BJP

Lucknow, Sep 29 (PTI) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday urged the Dalit community not to "waste" their franchise by voting for the Congress and the BJP. She also accused the Congress of neglecting the Dalits.

In a post in Hindi on X, Mayawati said, "The continuous neglect and contempt of the Dalits by the Congress during the Assembly elections in Haryana proves that when everything is not right in the party right now, (if) it is wrong, then what will happen in the future? In such a situation, people of the Dalit community should not waste their vote by giving it to the Congress and the BJP etc." "In any case, the leaders of the Congress, which has always been against reservation, now talk about ending reservation when the time comes.

"Therefore, the Dalits should vote unanimously for the BSP, because this is the party which is constantly struggling to make them the ruling class by protecting their interests and welfare and giving them constitutional rights," she said.

In another post, the BSP chief said, "Also, the Dalits of Jammu and Kashmir should not fall prey to the false promises and other allurements of the Congress, the BJP or any other alliance, but keeping in mind their anti-Dalit history, they should give their valuable vote unanimously to the BSP, this is an earnest appeal to all." Haryana goes to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be held on October 8.

Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing a three-phase assembly elections, where voting for 24 seats took place on September 18 in the first phase, and for 26 seats in the second phase on September 25. Voting for the third phase will be held on October 1 on 40 seats.

The counting of votes will be held on October 8. PTI