Lucknow, Feb 11 (IANS): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has finally hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its attack on him regarding nepotism and dynastic politics.

"Those who do not have families cannot understand the agony of what the migrant labourers went through during the Covid lockdown. I want to say that only those who have families can understand the pain of a family. I am proud to have a family," he said in a statement.

Akhilesh further said, "A family person will not run away with jhola (bag) and leave family behind. During the lockdown, if the chief minister had a family, he would have understood the pain of labourers walking miles to reach their home."

He said, "BJP should observe two minutes of silence for their last manifesto as they could not fulfil the promises made five years ago."

The SP chief raised concerns over the reports of EVMs not functioning properly at several booths during the first phase of polling.

"There were several reports that EVM was not functioning properly, voting was stopped for hours and people had to wait in order to cast their votes. The preparation for a fair election should have been done by the Election Commission to ensure smooth voting," he said.

About the Allahabad High Courts granting bail to Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Akhilesh said, "Government should have ensured strict punishment, but it obviously failed. The world has witnessed the incident that took place in Lakhimpur Kheri. Everyone is well aware of the fact that the BJP has been shielding the accused."