The party alleged that in a polling booth in the Balpura village in Karhal, BJP agents were even preventing Muslim voters from exercising their rights.
LUCKNOW — The Samajwadi Party (SP) has accused the BJP of sabotaging by-elections in the Rampur and Khatauli Assembly and Mainpuri parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh even as voting was underway on these seats.
The SP has alleged that its party workers were being thrown out of booths, electors were being prevented from voting to decrease the polling percentage and EVMs were malfunctioning in several areas.
The party alleged that in a polling booth in the Balpura village in Karhal, BJP agents were preventing Muslim voters from exercising their rights.
As the polling continued, the Samajwadi Party in a tweet alleged mismanagement and partiality by the police deployed on poll duty for the Khatauli bypoll and sought suspension of electoral officer Rakesh Kumar Singh for working as a ‘BJP agent’ and ‘stopping the Muslim voters from casting their vote’.
In Bhogaon, which is under the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency, the party alleged that police were attempting to arrest booth agents at several booths at the behest of the BJP.
In a booth in Karhal Central security forces were harassing the public in the name of ID checks to reduce the polling percentage, the SP alleged.
Further, the SP alleged that in Jaswantnagar in Etawah district, polling was delayed in a booth because of faulty EVMs.
Tweeting a video, the party alleged that money was being distributed by a BJP booth agent in Bhogaon to influence the voting.
The series of allegations comes after RLD candidate Madan Bhaiya in Khatauli also accused the state administration of being partial towards the BJP.
Besides, the Samajwadi Party workers have also alleged that the BJP workers broke their election counter near a polling station in Rampur.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MLAs on Monday staged a demonstration outside the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly protesting against alleged malpractices in the ongoing by-elections. They carried placards with anti-government slogans.
They claimed that the administration was rigging the bypolls and the Election Commission was a silent spectator.
SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary said: “Our legislators sat on a dharna to point out misuse of official machinery by the BJP in by polls. They were preventing people from casting votes.
“In the BJP regime, price rise is at its peak, youth are not getting employment and law and order has broken down in the state. The BJP has failed on all fronts. We are here to point out the government’s failures.”
A five-member delegation of the BJP reached the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission office accusing the SP of influencing the elections.
The by-election to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat was taking place due to the demise of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, while the bypolls in Rampur Sadar and Khatauli were necessitated after SP MLA Azam Khan and BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini were disqualified following their conviction in separate cases.
In Mainpuri, SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav is pitted against BJP’s Raghuraj Singh Shakya.
The BJP has fielded Akash Saxena, who is the son of former party MLA Shiv Bahadur Saxena, in Rampur Sadar against senior SP leader Azam Khan’s protege Asim Raja.
In Khatauli, the fight is between Vikram Singh Saini’s wife Rajkumari Saini and Madan Bhaiya from the RLD. — IANS
