Of dharnas, free-for-all and bogus voting

LEVYING ALLEGATION of booth capturing against Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Balwant Singh, majority of the candidates boycotted polling at Bingawan booth of ward number 36. They accused the police of siding with Singh in making a mockery of the poll process.

LEVYING ALLEGATION of booth capturing against Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Balwant Singh, majority of the candidates boycotted polling at Bingawan booth of ward number 36. They accused the police of siding with Singh in making a mockery of the poll process.

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Meanwhile, the Congress and the Samajwadi supporters resorted to stone pelting and dismantling each other’s booths at Durga Mandir centre in Dabauli.

Policemen lathicharged Congress corporator candidate Naveen Pundit and his supporters at Loknath Public School centre in Barra IV area. Moreover, a presiding officer was beaten black and blue by SP supporters who also snatched and took away ballot papers from the poll staff.

At Bingawan, several candidates including Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vinod Pal, Manoj Gupta of the Congress along with independent ones staged a sit-in when their complaints of bogus voting by supporters of Balwant fell on deaf ears. The agitators also blocked the road and later resorted to stone pelting, resulting in damage to several vehicles.

According to reports, the BJP candidate and his supporters protested fake voting resorted to by the SP candidate and demanded a check on the same. However, no one paid any heed to the demand. As the day passed by, several other candidates also raised voice against the wrongdoings.

They even alleged that several local police officials were hand-in-glove with the SP men in putting seal on ballots. The enraged supporters of these candidates then staged dharna near an institute.

Thereafter, the candidates who had already decided to boycott the polling blocked the Hamirpur Road for several hours and pelted stones on the passing vehicles. The police then swung into action and shooed them away, all the while ignoring their plea to stop the malpractice of fake voting.

At the Durga Mandir Centre in Dabauli, SP candidate Jai Prakash Pal’s supporters clashed with Kailash Pal and his followers of the Congress. Both groups pelted stones on each other. The trouble erupted when Congress supporters complained of fake voting by SP supporters. The altercation led to a free-for-all and both sides indulged in brickbatting. Later, they even dismantled party booths of each other. However, outpost incharge of DBS College Gopal Singh accompanied by a handful of police personnel stopped the situation from turning to worse. The arrival of police force led by SP (Crime) Sripati Mishra then shooed away the crowd of onlookers.

Ramkrishna, a presiding officer at booth number 348 of ward number 24 in Usmanpur area was beaten up by SP supporters who accused him of bias against the ruling party.

However, according to eyewitnesses and the presiding officer, he was merely checking the ballot papers that the SP polling agent misunderstood as putting seal for other candidates. Without verifying facts, the SP activists started beating up the aged presiding officer. Circle officer, Govind Nagar, OP Singh, who reached the spot later, corroborated the version of the presiding officer.

Talking to Hindustan Times, he said that two persons had been identified. While one had been taken into custody, search for the other was on.

However, when this correspondent visited Naubasta police station, the police let off the accused whose name was not revealed. Reason: He is the son of a retired deputy superintendent of police Nirbhay Singh Tomar and an SP worker, as claimed by a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At Loknath Public School, cops beat up Naveen Pundit along with his supporters for protesting fake voting at the centre.