Repoll ordered in 5 booths in Uttar Pradesh including District Firozabad in UP

Repoll ordered in 5 booths in Uttar Pradesh including District Firozabad in UP
The directive follows complaints of booth capturing and intimidation of voters during the election held on Thursday, officials said on Saturday.

Repolling will be held in five polling stations in Firozabad and Etawah Lok Sabha constituencies as the Election Commission has received complaints about booth capturing and intimidation during the election, officials said Saturday.

Several complaints were sent to the poll panel about bogus voting and booth capturing during the election held on Thursday, especially in the belt of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Following the complaints, the EC has sent observers to asses the situation in the constituencies.

The EC observers, in their report, have confirmed about illegal means of voting at booth no. 160, 161 and another polling booth in Sirsaganj assembly segment in Firozabad from where Akshay Yadav, nephew of the SP chief, is contesting the election.

Repoll has also been recommended for booth no. 10, 14 in Dibiyapur assembly segment in Etawah, the native place of the SP chief.

Sources told IANS that dates for the repoll will be announced soon and the EC has taken a grim view of these incidents. “In times of the EVMs, such incidents are very unfortunate,” said an official.

Officials also said the fact that these incidents, including an earlier one where repoll was held at some booths after the second phase of election in Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, the stronghold of another SP minister Azam Khan, “has put the SP in bad light.”

Opposition parties have accused the ruling SP of indulging in such illegal means.

“What else justifies the fact that all such incidents have taken place in the areas touted to be pocket boroughs of the SP and the Yadav clan,” questioned Vijay Bahadur Pathak, State spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has twice in the past aired her apprehension that the SP chief could rig the polls.

“I am informed that the SP knows its fate in the general election and can resort to anything...I therefore urge the EC to take note of the situation and ensure deployment of more paramilitary forces in the remaining phases of polls in the state,” she said



News Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/repoll-ordered-in-5-booths-in-uttar-pradesh/article5950721.ece (26.04.2014)