 "Former chief minister of UP Akhilesh Yadav during a function in Kolkata on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)")
The Samajwadi Party national executive on Saturday authorised party president Akhilesh Yadav to take decision on alliance and seat sharing for the general elections next year, an SP leader said.
Senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "The main decision taken in the national executive is that party president Akhilesh Yadav has been authorised to take a decision on alliance and seat sharing for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls."
"The executive is of the view that elections should be held through ballot papers and not through EVMs," he told reporters.
Asked to elaborate on the discussions at the national meeting about the political scenario, Yadav parried a direct reply, saying, "I am telling you about the decisions not the discussions."
About absence of some party leaders, including Mohd Azam Khan from the meeting, he said, "Is it necessary that all should remain present? Ninety per cent of the members were present. Party president Akhilesh Yadav was also there."
On being asked as to what the party would do if the Election Commission did not accept their demand for polls through ballot papers, Yadav said SP leaders would sit at the doors of the EC and resort to Satyagrah.
