LUCKNOW: Violence erupted in several districts of UP during block chairman elections on Saturday with a cop suffering injuries in a mob attack in Etawah and a Samajwadi Party worker taking a bullet in Hathras. At least 17 districts, including Hamirpur, Sonbhadra, Hathras, Amroha, Chandauli, Pratapgarh, Barabanki and Unnao were wracked by violence on polling day.
Protests raged in Ayodhya, Rae Bareli, Siddharthnagar, Mahoba and Muzaffarnagar after several independents alleged they were stopped from casting their vote in police presence.
In Etawah, additional superintendent of police, Prashant Kumar Prasad, was injured while trying to stop a mob 200m from a polling booth in Badhpurwa block. The mobsters ran amok hurling crude bombs and stones to disrupt polling, said SSP, Etawah, Brijesh Singh. Moments earlier, a video went viral in which the injured ASP could be heard talking on phone about BJP supporters targeting policemen.
“We have videographed the incident and an FIR will be lodged shortly. Nobody will be spared,” said the SSP. Talking to TOI, inspector general of police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal said, “SSP and DM of Etawah have been asked to immediately submit a report on the attack on ASP Prashant Kumar.” In Unnao’s Miyaganj block, a journalist was allegedly thrashed by an administrative officer and cadre of a particular party.
Additional director general of police, law and order, Prashant Kumar, said, polling for 476 block chairman seats was held in 74 districts in which clashes were reported in only 17 districts. “We have instructed district police chiefs to act against those indulging in violence and taking out victory marches,” he said.
Even as senior police officers claimed polling was largedly peaceful, stones and bullets flew at Sikandrau block in Hathras district after SP and BJP-backed candidates polled equal votes. A mob vandalised a roadways bus and SP candidate Sudama Devi’s son, Bunty Yadav, suffered a bullet injury. Violence was quelled after lathicharge by police.
In Hamirpur district, BJP leaders allegedly attacked a vehicle of an SP panchayat member in Sumerpur block, triggering a violent retaliation from SP cadres. Similar scenes were witnessed in Chandauli district where rival supporters came to blows. Despite heavy police deployment, SP and BJP workers clashed outside polling booths in Amroha, Sonbhadra and Barabanki and many were reported injured.
