EC cracks whip on officials for violence in Gonda
LUCKNOW: Taking violence during the village panchayat polls at a booth in Gonda district on Wednesday “very seriously”, the state election commission has cracked the whip on the officials ordering transfer of the district police chief and suspension of the SDM, Sadar, the CO Sadar and inspector Kowali (Dehat).
The commission’s action came after a candidate for the pradhan’s post Sajjad died on spot while his daughter Shajhan (40) and son Abdul (30) were injured when a rival candidate, Sonu Shukla, opened fire at the Bharha Para polling booth under the Firozpur village panchayat in Gonda district. The incident took place around 3.30 pm, just an hour before the voting was to be over.
Holding “gross negligence” on part local officials responsible for the “unfortunate” incidence, state election commissioner SK Agarwal here said the commission had ordered transfer of SP Anil Kunmar Singh with immediate effect and suspension of SDM (Sadar), Narendra Singh, CO, Sadar, Akhand Pratap Singh and inspector, Kowali (Dehat) Fanindra Yadav.
The suspended officials have also been moved out of the district attaching the SDM, the CO and the inspector with the Board of Revenue, the DGP headquarters, and the IG, Gorakhpur, respectively. The SP too has been attached with the DGP headquarters.
Agrawal also ordered rescheduling of polling dates for the remaining phases in the Gonda district. “Now, we have the voting in the third phase in Gonda will take place on December 7 in place of December 5. Similarly, the poling under the fourth and final phase in the district will be held on December 10 instead of December 9,” he said.
There were reports of violence, booth capturing and rigging from various others districts also, including Agra, Etah and Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Mau. The first phase on November 28 was also marred by violence.
The commission has ordered repoll at 13 booths in around half a dozen districts. Overall there was 72% voter turnout in the second phase in while around three crore voters exercised their franchise to elect pradhans and members for around 15000 village panchayats. More than 1.17 lakh candidates were in the fray for the posts of pradhan under the second phase.