First phase of UP panchayat polls marred by violence, 10 injured

Lucknow: The first phase of polling for panchayats on Friday was marred by incidents of violence, including firing and brick-batting, in some places which resulted in injuries to 10 people. [caption id=“attachment_2462926” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] “Some minor incidents” were reported at some places following which repoll has been ordered in 12 polling booths out of the total of over 46,000 booths, state Election Commissioner Satish Agarwal said. Repoll has been ordered in Etah, Amethi, Gorakhpur, Farrukhabad and Sambhal, among others, he said. Describing the turnout as good, Agarwal said it will not be less than 65 percent of 93 lakh voters eligible to cast ballots. Actual figures of poll percentage are being compiled, he said. “There has been no casualty nor any major incident,” Agarwal claimed. However, a number of violent incidents were reported. Among the incidents in Pratapgarh’s Raniganj police station area, the tongue of a person, identified as Mushtaq, was cut off after a tiff during polling for post of Kshetra Panchayat member, police said. Two persons sustained pellet injuries in a firing incident and were rushed to a hospital in Allahabad, police said. The presiding officer at a polling station was manhandled by some persons in Etah’s Aliganj area, they said. In Farrukhabad, three persons were injured in incidents of firing and brick-batting among members of rival groups at Mirpur Primary School under Badhpur block. One Shivraj Singh Yadav was shot at and injured by members of the rival group while two persons sustained wounds in the brick-batting that followed, police said, adding they were admitted to the district hospital in a serious condition. Five persons have been arrested in this connection, police said. In Amethi, repolling was ordered in four booths of Musafirkhana block following reports of irregularities while in Mau four persons were injured in Nasir village as supporters of rival candidates clashed. A class-IV employee, Harindra Singh (53) deployed in poll duty at Arnava primary school on Shivpur block in Bahraich, died due to cardiac arrest, reports said. Polling for the first phase of panchayat elections in 73 districts began on Friday morning to elect 20,022 Kshetra Panchayat members and 921 Zila Panchayat members. Elaborate security arrangements were made for the voting in 218 development blocks across the state, officials said. Over three lakh security personnel, including civil police, PAC, homeguard jawans and villages chowkidars were deployed to maintain law and order. Teams of magistrates and police officials were deputed in all places to keep a tight vigil on the situation. There are 13,194 candidates for post of Zila Panchyat members and 1,00,912 for Kshetra Panchayat members testing their popularity in the elections. Panchayat polls in the state are being held in four phases 9, 13, 17 and 29 October. PTI