The Samajwadi Party alleged on Wednesday that citizens were being prevented from voting in at least four of the nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where bye-elections are underway.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, on its part, alleged that in at least three places, people were being given fake identity documents to enable them to vote.
Bye-elections are underway in Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki in Uttar Pradesh.
Taking cognisance of the Samajwadi Party’s social media posts about voter suppression, the Kanpur Police said that sub-inspectors who stopped citizens from casting their ballot have been suspended.
“Everyone has been directed to ensure complete compliance with the election process,” said the police.
The Samajwadi Party released videos from Mirapur in the Muzaffarnagar district and Sishamau in the Kanpur district, in which a group of persons were heard saying that voters were being assaulted and prevented from exercising their franchise.
It also released a similar video from the Katehari constituency in the Ambedkar Nagar district, alleging that the police were threatening Muslim voters.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led party also alleged that in the Karhal constituency of the Mainpuri district, gunmen were intimidating voters and stopping them from exercising their ballot.
It claimed that the BJP was trying to capture booths at five places in Karhal.
In the Kundarki constituency of the Moradabad district, the party alleged that voter slips were not being given out and citizens were being stopped from voting. It alleged that at three booths, Muslim voters were being harassed.
Ahead of the bye-elections, the party had urged the state’s chief electoral officers to ensure that the police do not check voter identification documents. Only polling officers have the right to check the documents, the party said.
The BJP, on the other hand, alleged that in Kundarki, persons were being given fake identity documents outside mosques and madrasas to enable them to vote. At three booths, the party alleged that Samajwadi Party leaders were preventing voters from casting their ballots.
It also accused Samajwadi Party leaders of threatening voters at two booths in Phulpur. In Sishamau, the BJP alleged that the identity documents of Muslim voters were not being verified.
Apart from Uttar Pradesh, bye-elections are also being held in four seats in Punjab and one seat in each in Kerala and Uttarakhand. Voting is also underway for all 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra and 38 out of 81 seats in seats in Jharkhand.
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