Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday demanded that fresh elections be conducted in those block pramukh seats which witnessed violence, and alleged that candidates had been intimidated.
Ms. Vadra, on the second day of her Uttar Pradesh tour, drove to Lakhimpur Kheri district and met two women — Ritu Singh and Anita Yadav — associated with the Samajwadi Party who had been assaulted and humiliated during the nomination process for the block pramukh polls. Ms. Singh, the candidate, had her nomination papers and garments torn while her supporter, Ms. Yadav’s saree was pulled in broad daylight. BJP workers were accused in the case.
After meeting the women, Ms. Vadra demanded that the election on all such seats in U.P. be annulled and fresh election be conducted. She said the woman candidate had been deprived of her constitutional right to file nomination and contest election.
“Can someone get ten goons, beat up people and win elections? Is this our democracy today,” the Congress leader asked.
Ms. Vadra said she wanted the two women, who had recently also met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow over the incident, to know that all the women of U.P. and the country stood by them.
“This is a fight for democracy,” she said, adding that a situation had come where a woman going to file nomination gets beaten up.
The ruling BJP had claimed victory in 635 out of the 825 seats in the block pramukh elections. The Opposition parties led by the Samajwadi Party accused the BJP of misusing administrative machinery to intimidate candidates and of orchestrating violence to capture these rural body posts.
