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SP alleges lathi-charge on party workers during district panchayat chief elections in Uttar Pradesh
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accuses BJP of having resorted to malpractices to win the elections
The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday alleged that its party workers were lathi-charged in most districts of the state while the zila (district) panchayat chairpersons’ polls were in progress. For his part, chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engaging in malpractices and rigging to win the elections.
Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary claimed that the workers were lathi-charged in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi and several other districts when they were protesting against the favours that the administration had allegedly extended to the ruling party candidates.
In a statement, the SP chief said: “By throwing all democratic ethics and norms to the wind and turning the elections into a joke, the BJP converted its defeat in the panchayat elections into the victory in zila panchayat chiefs’ elections. The BJP held the voters (zila panchayat members) hostage, lured and intimidated them. And when SP leaders protested against the malpractices, the administration misbehaved with them.”
In Lucknow, the police were seen forcibly removing the SP workers from the collectorate gate while they were protecting the “going on inside in the favour of BJP”, the party alleged.
Democracy would be restored once the SP came back to power, Akhilesh Yadav said.
He also said that the SP had petitioned the state election commissioner (SEC) several times, but no action was taken by SEC. These elections had exposed the autocratic face of the ruling dispensation, he alleged.
It was alleged that in many places across the state, the administration provided “BJP helpers” to zila panchayat members. He said in Aligarh, despite the protest by SP, nine members were provided with helpers and in Shamli eight helpers were deployed to help the voting members.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “SP members were forcefully stopped from voting. They were beaten and threatened. There was brazen misuse of government machinery… The DMs were pressuring the zila panchayat members to vote for the BJP.”
