Lucknow violence-free, but other places not so
LUCKNOW: Polling for the second phase of the panchayat election in 20 districts, including Lucknow, ended under watertight security arrangements, on Monday. Reports of violence, false voting and manhandling have come in from many places across the state.
In Lucknow, polling was held in eight development blocks. Voting was done at 1,776 polling booths in 641 voting centres. To ensure glitch-free polling, 105 sector magistrates, 105 sector police officers, 26 zonal magistrates, 26 zonal police officers were deployed. While no untoward incident was reported in Lucknow, incidents of violence were reported from other districts.
At least five people, including a candidate, were injured after violence broke out between rival groups in Rajabpur police station area of Amroha district. According to the police, the violence started following a dispute over false voting. It escalated and over 15 men from both sides used wooden sticks and rods to attack each other. Additional force was sent to the spot which had to use mild force to contain the situation said Suniti, superintendent of police, Amroha.
In Amhera village of Amroha, a 45-year-old man died in the afternoon and his family members accused two candidates of providing him illicit liquor. Police has lodged a case in the matter and initiated investigations. In another village of the district, a 23-year-old woman was manhandled by supporters of a candidate after she was found to be casting a vote using the voter Id of another villager.
The state police deployed 57 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), 10 companies of Central Armed Police Force along with 5,90,005 police constables and 66,444 Home Guard personnel along with officials, across the state for the polling day.
Considering that the polling was held amidst rising Covid-19 cases, the biggest challenge before the authorities was to ensure Covid-19 protocol at polling stations. In Moradabad district of western UP, voters gathered in large numbers outside polling stations violating social distancing norms. The crowd of voters grew thinner as the day passed.
Besides management of voters, the district authorities also faced trouble handling a barrage of complaints reported by political rivals. Hirdesh Kumar, superintendent of police, Lucknow rural, said, “We received over a 100 complaints from various parts of the districts ranging from violence to false voting. Each of these complaints were looked into diligently and resolved. None of the reports of false voting were found to be true.”