Akhilesh Yadav accuses BJP of throwing away Bankipur and Datia bypolls

At a gathering marking Janeshwar Mishra’s birth anniversary, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party deliberately forfeited the Bankipur assembly bypoll in Bihar and the Datia bypoll in Madhya Pradesh. He said the BJP chose not to apply the "model" it employed in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, aiming to create the impression that election outcomes are beyond challenge and to blunt opposition criticism of electronic voting machines.

Yadav pointed to BJP officials handing out sweets after the Bankipur defeat as evidence of a staged loss. He warned that former SP leaders who have switched to the BJP, such as Manoj Kumar Pandey, will be supplanted by committed party workers. The remarks came after Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur seat and Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh captured Datia. Yadav framed the defeats as a deliberate ploy to mislead the public and weaken scrutiny of the electoral process.