Voters claim they were inked a day before polling, case registered

VARANASI : Residents of Tarajeevanpur village in Chandauli Lok Sabha constituency, along with SP-BSP workers, staged a protest outside Alinagar police station alleging that BJP workers forcibly applied indelible ink on the fingers of five people and gave them Rs 500 each asking them to skip voting.

On the complaint of villagers, the police registered a case against seven people and arrested two of them.

Superintendent of police (SP), Chandauli, Santosh Singh said, “Two people of Tarajeevanpur village, Panaru and D Ram, have lodged a complaint alleging that indelible ink was forcibly put on the fingers of five people by a group of seven men on Saturday night. Two of them are from their village. A case has been registered against two identified and five unidentified men under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).”

According to police, a case has been registered under sections 147 (rioting), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 171H (illegal payment in connection with election). He said two people had been arrested and further investigations were on. The SP said all the five complainants were allowed to cast their vote.

In their complaint, the villagers alleged that Chhotelal Tiwari, who is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and six other reached their houses on put ink mark on their fingers.

When they informed the matter to SP MLA Prabhunarayan Yadav, he reached Ali Nagar police station with SP-BSP workers and staged demonstration later in the night. Refuting allegations, BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava said, “This is the ploy of our rivals to defame us. Why would the BJP do such things when we are already winning the seat by a huge margin?” UP BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey is seeking a second term from Chandauli. He is pitted against SP-BSP alliance candidate Sanjay Chauhan and Congress nominee Shiv Kanya Kushwaha.