As the Uttar Pradesh BJP gets ready to submit its Lok Sabha election review to the party’s central leadership, its former Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak, who lost his seat to Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, publicly stated on Monday that paper leaks were “one of the major reasons” for the party’s defeat. On Tuesday, […]
As the Uttar Pradesh BJP gets ready to submit its Lok Sabha election review to the party’s central leadership, its former Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak, who lost his seat to Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, publicly stated on Monday that paper leaks were “one of the major reasons” for the party’s defeat.
On Tuesday, asked about the same by The Indian Express, Pathak attributed his defeat to the loss of Dalit votes because of the Opposition’s “false narrative” that a BJP-led NDA with more than 400 seats would alter the Constitution and end reservation.
“Paper leaks were one of the reasons behind the BJP losing votes in many seats across Uttar Pradesh,” Pathak told The Indian Express. “Even during the campaign, we met youths who were angry because exams were being cancelled due to paper leaks. The Opposition then made false statements that the BJP does not want to give employment to the youth, especially Dalits, so that they could not receive the benefits of reservation in jobs. Therefore, they alleged, the paper leaks were facilitated.”
Pathak, however, added, “The paper leaks were not the reason for my defeat in Kannauj. I received close to 5 lakh votes, including from the upper castes and OBCs, except Yadavs. But, I lost because Dalit votes went to the SP. A doctored video of Amit Shah was circulated among Dalits in which it was shown that the Constitution would be changed after the NDA secured 400 seats. The Opposition convinced the Dalit community that reservations would be ended.”
Pathak had lost to current Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh’s wife, in a close contest in 2014 when he received 42.11% of the votes and the SP leader had a 43.89% vote share. Five years later, the tables were turned as Pathak eked out a narrow win over Dimple, with a 49.37% vote share as against the SP leader’s 48.29% vote share. This time, he lost to Akhilesh with a margin of 1.7 lakh votes, securing a 38.71% vote share while the SP chief got 52.74% of the votes. The BJP leader also targeted the SP over the paper leaks, alleging that the “education mafia” functioning in the state blossomed during the governments run by Akhilesh and his father and the late SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. “The education mafia in UP involved in mass copying in board exams, paper leaks, and giving fake degrees was sheltered by their regimes. When CM Kalyan Singh in 1992 brought in a law against exam cheating, Mulayam Singh Yadav repealed it soon after he came to power in 1993,” Pathak said.
The SP founder sent both his son and grandson Tej Pratap abroad for studies, Pathak said, while Akhilesh too sent his daughter outside India to pursue higher education. “Mulayam, however, was always against English and learning computers in schools,” he added.
Asked about the matter, the BJP’s Kannauj district president, Veer Singh Bhadauria, agreed with Pathak that paper leaks were among the issues that youths raised during the campaign.
In a long post on his X account Sunday, Pathak raised the issue of paper leaks, the role of the education mafia and the Opposition, and what the BJP did previously to weed out corruption from the education system, while talking about his defeat.
“There are many reasons behind BJP’s defeat in 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. But, among those, paper leak is one of the big reasons. Paper leak in police recruit(ment) exam in UP is not a new thing since this has become a routine in the exams held in other states as well … However, I am happy that NEET paper leak has become an issue nationwide,” wrote the former MP.