UP polls: No challan for tripling if our govt comes to power, promises SBSP

Campaigning for the Assembly elections is in full swing in Uttar Pradesh and amid all this, leaders are not shying away from making populist or sometimes borderline bizarre promises to the voters. In one such incident, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has promised to allow tripling on two-wheeler vehicles once his party forms a government in the state.

Explaining the reason behind such a promise, the SBSP leader said, "A train carries 300 passengers on 70 seats and doesn't get challans... why is there a challan if three people ride a bike?"

"When our government comes to power, three riders will be able to ride a bike for free, '' Rajbhar said, adding, "Otherwise we will put challan on jeeps, trains." He was in Varanasi when he made the comments.

"When sometimes there is a quarrel in a village and a person registers a complaint with the police, then a constable goes to the village. They make the accused persons sit with them on the bike. Why is that inspector not fined for tripling?" the senior leader further argued.

Rajbhar's SBSP is contesting the state elections in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP). Interestingly, he has vowed to oust the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Rajbhar is in the fray from the Zahoorabad assembly constituency in Ghazipur district.

The 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to go to the polls in seven phases. The first round will commence from February 10 and further rounds of polling will take place on February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7. The votes will be counted on March 10.