Lucknow: With the polling underway for the seventh and the final phase of Lok Sabha election, residents of a village in Chandauli parliamentary constituency have accused the BJP of indulging in electoral malpractices. Chandauli is one of the 13 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in Uttar Pradesh in the ultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections on Sunday.
Villagers alleged that BJP workers arrived at their village on Saturday night to distribute Rs 500 among the residents, applied the indelible ink on their fingers and asked them not to go out and cast their vote.
The allegation comes after the Samajwadi Party claimed that BJP workers are stopping only Dalit and backward people in Chandauli from voting in lieu of 500 rupees.
The incident took place in Tarajiwanpur village which is a Dalit dominated area. The villagers have approached the police demanding FIR be lodged against the BJP candidate and BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey.
“Around 11pm, we received information that former village pradhan in Tarajiwanpur village was distributing money to the people and was applying indelible ink on their fingers. They were also allegedly asked not to vote. All the people who were distributed money are at the police station and they are not giving a written complaint, an FIR will be lodged based upon that and action will be taken,” SDM Kumar Harsh said.
A resident of Tarajiwanpur, Virendra Kumar said, “I went out for a walk after having dinner and saw BJP workers roaming around, putting indelible ink on the fingers of the people, giving them 500 rupees cash and telling them not to go out for voting. There were three people from the BJP --Dimple Tiwari, Chote Tiwari and Katwaru Tiwari who were giving money to the people.
Another voter said, “We were told that if someone asks, then we should show them indelible ink mark on our fingers and tell them that we have already voted.”
Meanwhile, SP candidate from Chandauli, Sanjay Chauhan, said, “Mahendra Nath Pandey has sent his people to many villages telling them not to go for voting after giving them 500 rupees and putting ink on their fingers. Such incidents have been reported from many villages, Dalits are being asked not to go out to vote. People of Tarajiwanpur will get their right to vote, but we demand that other people in the constituency whose fingers have already been marked by BJP people should also get their right to vote.”
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