As the Lok Sabha elections are underway, reports have now come in from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi of police lathi-charging at poll booths which are located near Muslim concentrated areas. The incident took place at Tiloi at polling booth 309. Another polling booth at the Government Inter-college also witnessed this where Muslim women were especially seen being pressured, as per ground reports.
Sabrang India’s sources have also shared a video from the ground, where the local Muslims have shown the injuries they got from the police. They can be seen saying that the police indiscriminately started beating up people for no reason. The locals have also said that people from the Muslim community were especially beaten.
On May 20, 49 constituencies went to vote across the country in the fifth phase of the country’s Lok Sabha elections. As per a report by Business Insider, Uttar Pradesh saw the second highest count in voting till 9 am today at 12 %, followed by Jharkhand and Ladakh at 11 % and 10% each.
Sabrang India has earlier looked at how several states have seen election related violations and harassment by the BJP in this voting phase alone. Telangana for instance witnessed BJP candidate Madhavi Latha demand Muslim women voters at polling booths to uncover their faces and show their identity cards as well. Similarly, there was police violence outside a polling booth in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal and many Muslim said that they were unable to file their vote. Local resident Muslims also stated that the police beat them violently and even snatched their documents they had brought with them to vote. These reports come at a time when Muslims representatives contesting in the elections have also decreased. In 2019’s elections, various parties, except for the BJP, had given 115 Muslim candidates, however, in 2024 only 78 such candidates have been put forth.
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