UP Election 2017: BJP hails Allahabad HC order on ensuring free and fair polls

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court order to the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure free and fair polls in Kairana and other sensitive areas of the state has come as a shot in the arm of BJP which has been demanding removal of UP DGP Javeed Ahmed and other officials “working for SP candidates”. “The directive of the HC is welcome. But it is unfortunate that Election Commission is not doing much about officials who are close to the Saifai family or relatives of the candidates, who are still holding important posts and can influence the elections,” UP BJP General Secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said on Tuesday. BJP has been demanding removal of the UP DGP and other officials, accusing them of working for SP candidates. [caption id=“attachment_3270706” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] A delegation of BJP leaders on Tuesday moved the Election Commission against Chief Secretary, Director General and Additional Director General of UP Police demanding they be replaced in order to ensure “free and fair elections”. The party also demanded that District Magistrates of Rampur, Firozabad and Meerut also be replaced, accusing them all of “partisan behaviour”. Pathak said the directive of the high court on the law and order issue in Kairana of Shamli district was welcome and expressed concern over the conduct of free and fair elections in Uttar Pradesh till the “tainted officials close to the ruling Samajwadi Party are shifted out from the key posts”. On exodus and law and order issue in Kairana, he said, “The directive of the high court vindicates the charges of the BJP on the UP government.” He said the state of affairs in UP is so bad that the HC had been forced to give orders even after the poll panel had repeatedly said it is committed to conducting free and fair polls. The HC directive also creates apprehension that the situation is not so good in Kairana and other places in the state and the government has “failed to perform its duty”, Pathak said. The exodus of Hindus from Kairana made headlines last year when local BJP MP Hukum Singh released a list of more than 300 Hindu families which had fled the town following repeated extortion threats and attacks. Singh had alleged that Samajwadi Party was preventing action against anti-social elements responsible for the exodus since they happened to be its supporters. However, the allegations were countered by the SP which charged the BJP with trying to trigger communal tension in western UP with an eye on political gains ahead of assembly elections in the state.