New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district office-bearer was arrested based on a complaint filed over the incident of assaulting a woman block development council member during the nomination process for the elections to Block Development Council (BDC) chairperson.
The attack took place as part of the run-up to the July 10 and 12 BDC chairperson elections, which are the last of the rural polls to be held in the state. The voters are the BDC members who had been elected in local polls in April this year.
The last date for nomination to the post was on July 8. On the same day, a video emerged, which was broadcast on TV news channels and social media, that showed two men pulling a woman’s sari in Lakhimpur Kheri, around 130 kilometres from Lucknow.
The woman was accompanying a potential candidate for filing nomination papers at the compound of the Pasgawan block office. The attackers were identified as Yash Verma and Brij Singh, who were described as supporters of Rekha Verma, BJP MP from Dhauraha, in several media reports.
The complaint was filed by a resident of Semra Janipur in Lakhimpur Kheri, Ritu Singh, who was being supported by the Samajwadi Party (SP).
“I handed a written complaint to the police on Thursday that Brij, a resident of J.B. Ganj area and a supporter of Rekha Verma, and Yash Verma pulled my sari and that of my proposer,” she told reporters in Lucknow on Friday, as quoted in the Telegraph.
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“I somehow pushed past the crowd blocking the entrance to the room of the returning officer and walked in, but they held the BDC member by her hand (on the premises outside), pulled her sari and snatched her belongings, including Rs 7,500 in cash and gold jewellery. They left her injured while pulling her gold earring,” she said.
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 8, 2021
The complainant stated that her sari was also pulled inside the returning officer’s chambers and she was prevented from filing papers.
“Some BJP members present in the returning officer’s room tried to drag me out while Rekha Verma and the police officers present looked on. I couldn’t submit my nomination papers. My supporters somehow rescued me and the BDC member (proposer) and took us away.”
Speaking to reporters in Lakhimpuri, the SP candidate’s main proposer, who was assaulted in the video, expressed apprehension that that the BJP members had wanted to kidnap her.
According to additional director general of police Prashant Kumar, Yash Verma had been arrested, while involvement of Brij Singh was being investigated. He also added that seven policemen had been suspended.
The newspaper identified Yash Verma as the chief of BJP Lakhimpur Kheri district, while Hindi media group Amar Ujala mentioned that he was the district vice-president.
The Telegraph reported that the assistant returning officer for the pramukh elections at Pasgawan block revealed that only two nominations were received. While one of them was for the mother of Rekha Verma and outgoing block pramukh, the other was of a ‘dummy candidate’ Shikha Singh, who was an associate of the BJP MP, claimed the SP-backed would-be candidate.
Republic TV news channel quoted BJP minister Mohsin Raza as dismissing the role of any party worker in the assault. “SP workers were trying to stop her, not our partymen. It is an allegation by the opposition. Not a single person from our party was involved in this case. SP is blaming BJP to hide the truth. People will reject them and BJP will again come in power with 300 seats,” he said.
There had been a series of violent incidents reported in Uttar Pradesh on the day of nomination of candidates for block head polls.
Earlier, the BJP had swept the majority of the zila panchayat chairperson elections held on July 3, amidst complaints from opposition parties of major irregularities.