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Voters say they were denied voting rights, allege police brutality: Rampur (UP) By polls

Elections to the Rampur seat were mired in controversy today, December 5, as residents and voters alleged denial of basic voting rights

Rampur By Poll
Image Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The elections to Rampur, in a by-election, a populous constituency in Uttar Pradesh that has a significant population of Muslims were mired in controversy as social media users took to Twitter to allege a denial of voting rights through the (ab)use of force by the police. Some media outlets showed visuals of a woman in a video can also be seen showing another woman’s wounded hand allegedly as a result of police brutality. The woman can be heard saying that a wounded elderly woman had gone out to cast their vote, however, to her surprise, the authorities allegedly attacked the elderly woman with lathis and denied her the right to vote. The woman in this video can also be seen showing her voter ID and Aadhar card which are valid documents for one to cast their votes.

This video, which has come to light from Uttar Pradesh’s by-election bound Rampur where the voters can be heard alleging that the police have denied them their right to vote and have also assaulted them in from trying to go to the election booth to vote.

Tweets

Voters in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh alleged that Police in the area has hijacked the polling booths. Voters has also alleged that its party workers were being thrown out of booths and were being prevented from voting.

#चुनाव_आयोग संज्ञान ले लोगो को वोट नहीं डालने दिया जा रहा हैं इसी तरह की खबरें और जगहों से भी आ रही है रामपुर 37विधनसभा

बीजेपी को अगर चुनाव ही जीतना था तो चुनाव कराने की जरूरत क्या थी वैसे भी जीता जा सकता है । #rampur #ByElections2022@SpokespersonECI

#SamajwadiParty के एक प्रतिनिधिमंडल ने लखनऊ में चुनाव आयोग कार्यालय पहुंचकर उपचुनाव में कथित धांधली को लेकर आपत्ति दर्ज कराई। प्रतिनिधिमंडल का आरोप है कि #Police की मदद से #Rampur और #Mainpuri में लोगों को वोट डालने से रोका जा रहा है।

They don’t even allow casting of votes in Rampur. Beating up of people started y’day. SSP there is the one who was removed from Firozabad on my complaint during polls. This SSP was there the last time too & even now. There is nobody to listen but public is supreme: SP MP RG Yadav
 

Silence from the ECI Twitter Handle 

The Election Commission of India (ECI) twitter handle has, so far been non-responsive to these allegations. All the tweets on the handle are replete with celebratory tweets from constituencies in Gujarat and one or two in Rajasthan. Gujarat has completed its second phase of poling for the state assembly today.

Three places in Uttar Pradesh will be holding elections for the seat of Rampur, Khatauli and Mainpuri on Monday. From one of the by election bound places, Rampur, a video has come to light in which a Muslim woman along with more people can be seen telling the camera that the police have been denying and turning away the voters.

Rampur by-elections

These by-elections for the Rampur constituency seat were scheduled to be held on 5 December after they necessitated after the disqualification of SP MLA Azam Khan. The two parties who are looking horns for the Rampur seat are BJP and Samajwadi Party.

BJP has fielded Former Party MLA Shiv Bahadur Saxena’s son Akash Saxena for the Rampur seat whereas BJP counterpart in Rampur, Samajwadi Party has fielded former MLA Azam Khan’s close aide Asim Raza. The result of the by election will be released on December 8.

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