Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has demanded that the Election Commission should conduct a re-polling in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur Assembly constituency after his party candidate lost the bypoll.
On polling day, Monday, SP had alleged that the police and administration were allowing its supporters to vote. Videos accessed by Maktoob showed that many Muslim men and women were stopped by police from going to polling booths. A low voter turnout of 33% was recorded in Rampur.
On verdict day, Thursday, Samajwadi Party candidate Mohammed Asim Raja, who was backed by veteran Azam Khan, had lost to Akash Saxena from the Bharatiaya Janata Party. The Hindutva party has won the stronghold of Azam Khan for the first time.
“The administration insulted out supporters. Some were even manhandled and prevented from voting,” Akhilesh Yadav said to NDTV.
“Who should we put our faith on, if the Election Commission is not going to look into all this?” he asked.
A video of polling day from Rampur went viral wherein a Muslim woman is shouting about how the police are mercilessly beating up Muslims coming out of their houses and warning the rest not to step out.
Maktoob contacted the Samajwadi candidate, Asim Raja, who had said, “The situation is extreme. Police have captured the booths, and they’re not letting Muslims cast their votes.”
“There is special barricading in Muslim areas to hinder them from coming out of their house. They’re stopped at every nook and corner of the road, obstructing them from even reaching the polling booths. There’s been barely 8-10% polling from Muslim areas till now. The officials are making lame excuses by either saying it’s lunchtime or the polling machine is broken. All in all, the condition is bad,” Raja said.
The police are snatching away the voter cards of Muslim voters, abusing them, shouting at them, and even beating them up, he alleged.
