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Opposition hurls charges at SP in run up to Council polls

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW NOV. 25. The Chief Election Officer here has been flooded with complaints of various nature alleging misuse of administrative machinery by the ruling Samajwadi Party in the current elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from local bodies constituencies. A majority of complainants belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition group, though from some constituencies the Congress nominees have also made accusations.

The Bahujan Samaj Party has kept itself aloof from the Legislative Council elections.

Elections are being held in 35 constituencies while in Lakhimpur Kheri district the Samajwadi Party nominee was declared elected unopposed after the nomination papers of the candidates belonging to the BJP and the Congress had been rejected by the Returning Officer. The two parties later complained to the Election Commission that the district authorities in Lakhimpur Kheri had forced their supporters to sign false affidavits that led to the rejection of nominations of their candidates.

Most of the complaints have been received from Pratapgarh, Badaun, Hardoi, Sitapur and Aligarh districts accusing the administration of openly canvassing support for the ruling party candidates.

The BJP candidate from Aligarh complained that the UP Health Minister, Rajvir Singh, who had been camping in the constituency was coercing voters with the help of district officials to support his party candidate.

An incident was cited in this connection from Hathras in which the district officials had participated in an Iftar hosted by the local unit of the Samajwadi Party.

Complaints of misusing their official position in the elections have also been received against other Ministers, including Naresh Agrawal, Vinod Singh Pandit, Ram Karan Arya and Dinesh Singh.

In Pratapgarh, the home district of the Congress Legislature Party leader, Pramod Tiwari, complaints have been received about threats being issued by the independent candidate, Akshay Pratap Singh, who has been contesting elections from jail. Akshay Pratap Singh, enjoying support of the Samajwadi Party, was making illegal use of his mobile phone to threaten the voters, the Congress has alleged.

Complaints from some constituencies stated that voters had been abducted by the ruling party candidates and their whereabouts were not known. This had been done in connivance with the local officials. Threatening voters to implicate them in false cases , if they failed to vote for the ruling party nominee, was a common way to coerce them ,pointed out complainants.

The Chief Election Officer has, however, assured that all arrangements were being made to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. The complaints received were being sent to district magistrates for enquiry. However, no action had so far been necessitated on the basis of any complaint, he added.

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• Rift in SP, Kranti Dal ties in U.P.
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