After garnering social media fame for guarding an EVM room with binoculars, Yogesh Verma, a Samajwadi Party candidate from the Hastinapur constituency, failed to acquire votes in the 2022 assembly elections. Verma lost to Dinesh Khatik, the Bharatiya Janata Party‘s sitting MLA, with a margin of 7,312 votes. 

While Khatik amassed 1,07,587 votes, the Samajwadi Party candidate bagged 1,00,275 votes. 

Archana Gautam, a Congress candidate and a beauty pageant winner from the constituency got 1,519 votes. 

Verma had last bagged the MLA seat in 2007 with a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. He then contested in the 2012 polls as a candidate for the Peace Party but failed to win. 

Recently, Verma became a social media sensation for keeping an eye on the EVM room via binoculars after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused the EVMs of being tampered in the constituency of Varanasi. 

Soon after, videos of Yogesh Verma standing on top of a vehicle began circulating on the internet. Verma sported a pair of sunglasses and an all-white ensemble during his eagle-eyed stint.

 Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow earlier this week, Akhilesh Yadav said, “One can’t move EVMs without informing candidates, as per rules. The CM’s chief secretary is calling DMs to influence the counting process and asking them to slow down counting wherever the BJP was losing.”

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“There is a wave against BJP on the ground. I didn’t want to speak on Exit Polls, but it’s all done to create a false perception that BJP is winning, so that when they cheat it would look normal,” he added. 

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“I request all the people to guard their vote. This is the last election to save democracy, if we fail then a revolution would be needed just like we did for our independence. This is a dangerous sign for democracy. We will have to sit 3 days to guard EVMs,” Yadav concluded.