"Of all the leaders, I like Sonia Gandhi a bit. But I definitely won’t vote for the Congress," she says.

"This time, I think I will vote for the BJP. My father has been voting for them for a long time and I will vote for them this time," she adds.

On the Uttar Pradesh government’s low-crime claim, she says, "Uttar Pradesh has always been unsafe."

"Varanasi is as unsafe as Delhi," she adds. "I can't step out without fear after dark. Only difference is that Delhi being the national capital, all the atrocities against women that happen there get highlighted in the national media, while things that happen in these parts of Uttar Pradesh go unreported."

Photograph: Uttam Ghosh
Also see: How peace was maintained in sensitive Moradabad

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