Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Varanasi’s Jaitpura police station filed FIRs against 640 people on March 11, 2022 for allegedly inciting violence, rioting and causing voluntary hurt in the district on the same day as the controversy surrounding Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) broke out. Similar complaints have been lodged in other areas as well, but none of these are against BJP workers.
On March 8, hundreds of people demonstrated at the Pahariya mandi in Varanasi following allegations of the Samajwadi Party (SP) that EVMs were “being stolen from a counting centre” just before counting day. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP-led government of theft, which led citizens to storm city streets till late night. Viral videos showed SP workers condemning the state government and keeping vigil in various parts of the state. According to reports, protesters have also been accused of creating traffic jams at the Golgadda crossroad and destroying public property.
At the time, no particular action was taken against the masses. However, cut to March 11, the Varanasi Commissionerate called for FIRs against 600 unknowns and 40 named persons under sections 147, 352, 188, 332, 342, 353, 504 and 527 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to the Hindustan newspaper, most of the 40 named accused are Muslims.
These people now face charges, three days after the incident. Particularly, they are charged with punishment for rioting for which a person may be imprisoned for a term that may extend to two years or with fine or both if the accused commits or causes violence. Other charges are assault, disobedience to order, hurting a public servant, punishment for wrongful confinement, hindering a public servant, inciting violence.
Inspector Mathura Rai called for action against this matter on Friday. However, it is worth questioning why local authorities took so long to act against the accused, that too a day after the counting of votes on March 10. Further, this is on the same day when SP leader and winner of the Domariyaganj seat Saiyada Khatoon as well as other SP workers were slapped with FIRs for violating Section 144 and shouting pro-Pakistan slogans on Thursday night.
Then again in Kaushambi, 400 unknown SP workers face an FIR for attacking police personnel, disrupting peace and hindering public servant’s work. According to the Hindustan, these workers on Thursday were in conflict with BJP workers over alleged trouble with the EVM in Kaushambi. However, only the Opposition party workers face police action so far.
On March 8, SabrangIndia reported that the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) cVIGIL software application received 47,393 complaints from the public. Of these as many as 40,395 complaints proved to be correct for all five states between February 10 and March 7.
UP reported only 2,375 such complaints and 1,020 crackdowns. Similarly, the state also had the highest number of FIRs in this election season for violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and Covid-19 guidelines. Out of the 1,700 FIRs, as many as 1,236 FIRs were for MCC violation and 464 FIRs were for Covid-19 related violations. It was reported that 464 FIRs were lodged in UP for violation of pandemic guidelines alone.
However, the maximum number of FIRs were filed against the SP for Covid-19 and MCC violations was 306 FIRs. The party was closely followed by the BJP at 256 FIRs, against the Bahujan Samaj Party at 132 FIRs and the Congress at 99 FIRs.
Related:
EVM security: Whose responsibility is it anyway?
Case registered against Saiyada Khatoon, newly elected MLA of Domariyaganj
Assembly polls: 40,395 model code of conduct violations lodged with EC