Incidents like firing, crude bomb explosions, stone pelting, clashes, and a baton charge to control the unruly crowds were reported from various districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) today while the voting was underway to elect 825 block panchayat chiefs. The Superintendent of Police in Etawah was reportedly slapped by a masked hooligan and a Television journalist was beaten up in Unnao.
As per the latest news reports, of the total 825 seats, the BJP and its allies have won 635 seats. Also, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led BJP has won seven out of eight seats in the state capital Lucknow.
Following the counting of votes and BJP emerging as the single biggest party in the block panchayat chief elections, Chief Minister Adityanath said, “BJP along with its allied candidates is securing a huge win in the block panchayat chief polls. Till now it has won 635 seats, and the numbers will surely increase as results on further seats arrive”.
These panchayat polls, possibly the largest elections in the world to elect representatives of rural local bodies, are important as Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with over 200 million population, will go for assembly elections early next year.
UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh was quoted as saying that a state of development and good governance has been established by eradicating casteism and corruption after the formation of the party’s government under the leadership of CM Yogi.
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Meanwhile, the opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress, have accused the BJP of tarnishing democracy by being partial against the opposing candidates and misusing state machinery to win elections.
Polls marred by violence
Two days back, on July 8 on the day for filing nominations, incidents of widespread violence and arson were reported from various districts of the state. Several FIRs have been filed and some police officials suspended too.
On July 5, the State Election Commission had issued a notification for the polls, for which nominations were to be filed between 11 am to 3 pm on July 8.
In a statement issued on July 9, State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar had stated that 1,778 nomination papers were received for 825 posts of the block panchayat chief, of which 68 were cancelled and 187 withdrawn. As a result, 1,710 candidates went to the polls today.
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In response to the violent incidents on July 8, yesterday, on July 9, the Chief Minister had ordered the suspension of six police officials from the Pasgwan block police station.
Arvind Kumar Chaurasia, District Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri told the press that the assistant district magistrate (ADM) and the assistant superintendent of the police (ASP) have been ordered to conduct a joint investigation of the incident in which a woman named Anita Yadav was allegedly harassed while she was on her way to file the nomination papers in the Mohammedi area on July 8.
Senior police officer slapped, journalist roughed up
Meanwhile today, on the day of voting, a television journalist named Krishna Tiwari told mediapersons that the Chief Development Officer (CDO) in the Miyaganj block of Unnao roughed him up while he was there to report for the elections.
“I was standing near the vote counting centre. There were supporters of different parties on the site and police were unable to catch them. Suddenly, the CDO and the circle officer began to assault me and hurled abuses. I was injured and one of my fingernails got torn,” Tiwari said.
Also, in Etawah, the candidates from BJP and SP both secured 37 votes each. A second election was conducted in which people cast the ballots with paper slips. Following this, BJP’s Ganesh Rajput was declared as the winner.
This was followed by a ruckus and the police had to open fire to control the crowds. Also, in the turmoil, a masked man slapped the Superintendent of Police Prashant Kumar and the police then resorted to the use of force for controlling the mob.
Earlier in April-May, Uttar Pradesh witnessed tri-level panchayat polls of gram pradhan (village head), gram panchayat (village council), and zila panchayat (district panchayat). The results for these polls were declared on May 2 but due to the rampage caused by the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic, many winning candidates could not formally take oaths and formally occupy their offices. Also, the elections for block panchayat chiefs were delayed for the same reason. On May 25-26, winning village heads and ward members were appointed their offices after an oath taking ceremony while voting was scheduled for the district panchayat heads on July 3 for 53 districts.
Also, candidates stood in the elections unopposed in 22 districts across the state.
