Civic polls: Group clashes in Deoria, Gorakhpur villages

In one of the incidents, supporters of the BJP and the SP clashed in ward 15 of Gorakhpur’s Ghaghsara area on Saturday after a former village head thrashed the local SP candidate’s polling agent.

Even as the counting of votes for urban local bodies are scheduled on May 13, police remained alert after a few incidents of clashes between supporters of candidates were reported in some eastern Uttar Pradesh districts on Friday and Saturday.

The counting of votes for urban local bodies are scheduled on May 13, (For representation)

In one of the incidents, supporters of the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) clashed in ward 15 of Gorakhpur’s Ghaghsara area on Saturday after a former village head thrashed the local SP candidate’s polling agent.

In another incident on Friday evening, BSP supporters staged a demonstration at Ramgarh lake police station as police had reportedly detained some of them on the complaint of an independent candidate.

In Bhatpar Rani of Deoria, the husband of a woman candidate for chairperson post reportedly had a physical altercation with a former MLA from the SP, Ashutosh Kumar, on Friday night. The circle officer said police have initiated an inquiry following a complaint from the ex-MLA.

Meanwhile, political parties, which are worried over the low polling figures, have deployed teams for safeguarding the EVMs. The SP has deployed an 18-member team to guard EVMs kept at the strong room of DDU University.

Abdur Rahman