Viral videos from the constituency show voters bearing the brunt of police action. Muslims also allege that their ID cards and voting receipts were snatched away.
Team Clarion
SAMBHAL — Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency have accused the police of resorting to lathi-charge to stop them from voting in the third round of the ongoing seven-phase general elections.
Several videos from the constituency showing the voters bearing the brunt of police action have gone viral. Muslims alleged that their ID cards and voting receipts were also snatched away.
Samajwadi Party (SP) posted a video through its official handle on X showing bruises and injuries some voters received after being beaten up by the police. It also shows some aged voters falling unconscious as a result of the police’s highhandedness.
“Voters are being beaten and threatened by the police in all the assembly constituencies including Kundarki, Bilari, Chandausi, Sambhal and Asmoli which fall under Sambhal Lok Sabha seat. Voting is being affected by unnecessarily harassing voters by checking voter slips. Election Commission should take cognisance and ensure fair voting,” posted the party on X.
Another video from Sabhal shows that a large number of voters coming out after being driven away by the police from a polling booth.
A video shows some Muslim women claiming that they were not allowed to cast their vote and were turned away from the pooling booth.There was also a scuffle between SP supporters and the police.
Commenting on the police actions, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “The behaviour of the police and the administration is not right. BJP will be wiped out in this phase. Police are beating people in Sambhal and we are getting information from Mainpuri that Samajwadi Party workers and leaders are being locked up. The ministers, their associates and family members are roaming freely. Therefore, I want to appeal to people to come out and vote and save democracy. I hope that the Election Commission will take action on it.”
Sambhal is a Muslim-concentrated constituency. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won the seat only once in 2014, has made Parmeshwar Lal Saini its candidate from here. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Ziaur Rahman Barq, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has reposed its faith in former MLA Saulat Ali.
Barq, the sitting MLA from Kundarki assembly, is the grandson of the party veteran Shafiqur Rahman Barq who won the seat two times in 2009 on a BSP ticket and in 2019 on an SP ticket. He died at the age of 93 a few months ago.
Another video from Aonla constituency posted by the party shows some Muslim women saying that they were beaten up and not allowed to cast their vote.
