New Delhi: Voting for 10 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday (May 7) was marred by allegations of police action against voters, especially Muslims, in some constituencies to purportedly prevent or deter them from voting. The Samajwadi Party accused the administration and state police of disrupting voting in Muslim-populated areas, using lathis on voters to chase them out from voting centres and turning away Muslim women wanting to vote on dubious grounds. The party’s leaders alleged all these tactics were to cumulatively prevent voting from going up in Opposition-dominated booths.
Several video clips showing police chasing out voters, many identifiably Muslim, or using lathis on them, and Muslim women claiming that they were not allowed to vote on the grounds that their Aadhaar cards were ‘fake’, were widely shared on social media. Election officials in Lucknow, while acknowledging that the third phase recorded an increase in complaints during voting, said that overall voting was conducted peacefully, with no reports of major violence or untoward incidents.
The 10 constituencies recorded an average vote of 57.34%, according to information received by the UP Chief Electoral Officer till 6 pm. Sambhal recorded the highest turnout, 62.81%, followed by Etah (59.17%), Mainpuri (58.59%), Firozabad (58.22%), Bareilly (57.88%), Fatehpur Sikri (57.09%), Aonla (57.08%), Hathras (55.36%), Budaun (54.05%) and Agra (53.99%).
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Four of these seats – Budaun, Firozabad, Mainpuri and Sambhal – are considered to be strongholds of the SP. The majority of complaints of discrepancies, misbehaviour and administrative pressure on voters were recorded in Sambhal and Budaun, which have substantial populations of Muslim voters.
In Sambhal, voters in Obri village were allegedly forcefully evicted by police from a school with four voting booths. Policemen were seen chasing out voters who were trying to escape blows from police lathis. The video clip of Obri school was widely shared on social media, with the Opposition party SP and other social media users accusing the administration of high-handedness against Muslim voters to prevent them from casting their votes.
The administration is openly influencing the election under the protection of the government, said UP Congress on X. “BJP wants to win the elections by destroying democracy and the Constitution,” said UP Congress.
संभल लोकसभा में प्रशासन खुलेआम सत्ता के संरक्षण में चुनाव प्रभावित कर रहा है।
असमोली विधानसभा के ग्राम ओवरी में पुलिस बल द्वारा मतदाताओं के साथ अभद्रता और मारपीट की जा रही है। उन्हें वोट डालने से रोका जा रहा है।
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— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) May 7, 2024
Sambhal Police, even in the face of the videos, denied that any violence was deployed. The police said it was only managing crowds inside the polling station so that voting could be done in an orderly queue.
The district magistrate of Sambhal gave a similar explanation. The DM said that during voting, a large number of people were unnecessarily standing inside the polling centre premises after voting. These people were taken out of the station by security personnel, following which voting was conducted again in a systematic manner forming lines, said the DM.
In other parts of Sambhal, too, Muslim voters alleged that police hit them with lathis and chased them away from voting centres. Pinki Singh Yadav, the SP MLA from Asmoli seat in Sambhal, accused the police and administration of trying to influence the election. Yadav said that police in Sambhal used lathis on voters peacefully assembled at voting centres and accused the administration of trying to hinder voting through “cruelty” and “indecent” behaviour against voters.
“Many were injured. Even young voters and those 80-90 years old were not spared,” said Yadav, adding that several voters suffered bleeding and lathi marks on their bodies.
The SP MLA also alleged that the administration beat voters in Mansoorpur village and even snatched their Aadhaar cards. She demanded that the Election Commission of India take action against four SHOs and one Circle Officer in Sambhal for allegedly trying to influence the voting.
मैं आदरणीय भारत निर्वाचन आयोग एवं राज्य निर्वाचन आयोग से निवेदन करती हूं कृपया संज्ञान ले का कष्ट करें
चुनाव में पुलिस प्रशासन द्वारा चुनाव प्रभावित किया जा रहा है लगातार मैं आशा करती हूं निर्वाचन आयोग कार्यवाही करने का कष्ट करे@ceoup @SpokespersonECI @DmSambhal… pic.twitter.com/Sym6YNfjz0— Pinki Singh Yadav (@PinkiYadavMLA) May 7, 2024
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“They are saying that my Aadhaar card is fake,” a Muslim woman in Kundarki in Sambhal said in a video that was shared on social media.
The SP’s Sambhal candidate and sitting MLA Ziaur Rehman Barq got in a scuffle and argument with police after they tried to evict his associates including his father from the voting centre. Barq accused the police of snatching the boxes of the booth level officer and trying to prevent voting.
Additional Superintendent of Police Sambhal, Shrish Chandra, said that some other people had tried to enter the voting centre along with Barq but when they were stopped, they started to object. The officer said the matter was resolved through dialogue.
Opposition party SP also shared several photos of voters claiming that the administration had either snatched their voting IDs or torn them.
Akshay Yadav, the SP’s candidate in Firozabad, accused two police SHOs of working as “BJP workers” and accused them of harassing voters and preventing them from voting by finding faults in their IDs. “Police used lathi-charge, while at some places it spread the misconception among voters that they need two IDs to vote,” Akshay Yadav told a local media channel.
In Budaun, SP’s candidate Aditya Yadav alleged that a police officer in Islamnagar had removed SP’s boxes from the polling booths and tore voter slips of SP after snatching them from seven booth level officers. SP workers are being put under pressure by keeping them at the police station, alleged Aditya. He also alleged that a police officer kicked a water bottle causing water to spill on the party’s voter slips.
Budaun police said that it found the allegations to be fake. The matter was probed by the circle officer of Bilsi, Budan police said, adding that no such problem was found. Voting was peaceful, said the police.
In Aonla Lok Sabha, the SP’s candidate Neeraj Maurya alleged that police were beating up and intimidating voters in Alapur in his constituency. Voters were unnecessarily harassed in the name of checking to influence voting, said Maurya.
At booth numbers 334, 335, 336, 337 in Kakrala, the police beat up the BLO and chased him away because he was a Muslim, alleged Maurya. “The police are deliberately not allowing Muslim voters to go near the booth,” said Maurya on X.
लोकसभा आंवला के ककराला की अलापुर में पुलिस द्वारा मतदाताओं को पीटा एवं धमकाया जा रहा है। अनावश्यक रूप से वोटर पर्ची की चेकिंग करके मतदाताओं को परेशान करके मतदान को प्रभावित किया जा रहा है।
संज्ञान ले चुनाव आयोग, निष्पक्ष मतदान सुनिश्चित हो।@ECISVEEP @ceoup pic.twitter.com/KOJf10iNwr
— Neeraj Maurya MLA (@NeerajMauryaJBD) May 7, 2024
Budaun police, however, dismissed the allegations as “false and baseless”. Police said voters cast their votes at all the mentioned booths. The BLO present at the booths gave slips to the voters and voting was completed safely, said police. In Sambhal, police said they had caught more than 50 “suspicious persons” while they were trying to cast fake votes.
In Mainpuri, BJP leaders accused SP workers of pelting stones at their car.
UP Chief Election Officer Navdeep Rinwa, addressing a press conference in Lucknow, said that around 250 complaints regarding voting had been received by them from political parties in the third phase, much higher than the first two phases.
Most of them were related to alleged booth capturing (71), putting pressure to vote for a particular party (57), EVM malfunctions (36), improper way of checking of veiled women (19), cases of miscreants gathering outside polling stations (13), names not in voter list (8) and not receiving voter slips (2).
The complaints were disposed of in a speedy manner by the administration, said the UP CEO.
Akhilesh Yadav appealed to booth agents, workers, candidates and supporters of the SP and Congress to be “cautious, vigilant and alert” even after voting until the EVMs were sealed and reached the strong room.
