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Samajwadi Party claims voter suppression and intimidation in Karhal, Katehar

Posted on by Josh L
Samajwadi Party claims voter suppression and intimidation in Karhal, Katehar

The Samajwadi Party claimed on Wednesday that citizens were prevented from voting in at least four of the nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, where early elections are underway.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, for its part, claimed that in at least three places, people were issued fake identity documents to allow them to vote.

By-elections are underway in Katehar, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhwan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki in Uttar Pradesh.

Taking cognizance of the Samajwadi Party’s social media reports of voter suppression, the Kanpur police said that deputy inspectors who prevented citizens from voting have been suspended.

“Everyone is ordered to fully comply with the election process,” the police said.

The Samajwadi Party released a video of Mirapur in Muzaffarnagar district and Sishamau in Kanpur district, in which a group of individuals were heard saying that voters had been attacked and prevented from exercising their voting rights.

He also released a similar video from Katehari constituency in Ambedkar Nagar district, where the police allegedly threatened Muslim voters.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led party also alleged that armed men intimidated voters and prevented them from voting in Karhal constituency of Mainpuri district.

It alleged that the BJP was trying to capture booths at five places in Karhal.

In Kundarki constituency of Moradabad district, the party alleged that voter cards were not issued and citizens were not allowed to vote. It claimed that Muslim voters were harassed in three booths.

Ahead of early elections, the party called on state election chiefs to ensure that police do not check voter IDs. Only precinct voters have the right to check documents, the party informed.

The BJP, on the other hand, alleged that in Kundarka people were issued fake identity documents outside mosques and madrassas so that they could vote. In three booths, the party alleged that Samajwadi Party leaders were preventing voters from voting.

He also accused Samajwadi Party leaders of threatening voters in two booths in Phulpur. In Sishamau, the BJP alleged that identity documents of Muslim voters were not verified.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, early elections also held at four seats in Punjab and one seat each in Kerala and Uttarakhand. Voting is also underway for all 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra and 38 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand.