UP bypolls: After SP says cops shouldn’t remove veils to identify voters, EC says ‘no such direction’

“Security personnel are there for the security, be it central forces or state police, they would maintain law and order but would not check identity of voters. All the returning officers have been made aware of the direction of the commission and they have been asked to make all the police personnel aware of this direction so that there is no such complaint during polling,” Rinwa added.

In a letter to the ECI on Monday, the SP’s state president, Shyam Lal Pal, alleged that in the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, the police “misused power” and “scared” people away from polling centres, “especially Muslim women” as “their veils were removed” to check their identities.

The BJP reacted sharply to the SP’s letter, pointing out that they (BJP) have been demanding for long that no voter “should be allowed to exercise franchise without having their credentials checked.”

On Tuesday, the SP released a list of 10 “helpline numbers” for registering complaints related to the bypolls in the state.

Demanding written directives for returning officers and local administrations of all nine Assembly seats, Pal cited the ECI’s Handbook for Returning Officers and the section that defines the “process of identification of voter by (a) polling officer”. He maintained that it gives the right to check identities or voter IDs to polling officers deployed at the polling centres.

He went on to allege that the “misuse of power” by the police in the Lok Sabha election led to many SP supporters returning from polling centres without voting, thereby reducing the voting percentage. He also accused block-level officers of not distributing voter chits in “localities having a dominant population of SP supporters, especially in the Muslim population,” alleging that this led to many not having any idea about their booth.

The state SP president also demanded the videography of all the booths in the Karhal Assembly seat, alleging “conspiracy” and the use of government machinery to intimidate voters at the booths. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had vacated the seat and his nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav is contesting from the constituency this time.

BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said on Tuesday, “The Samajwadi Party is… building unnecessary pressure on the local administration through such allegations so that they can indulge in fake voting… to woo a specific vote bank, by showcasing that they are their well-wishers, but for the sanctity of the polling, we again say that it is important to check the identity of every voter.”

Earlier Tuesday, Akhilesh alleged that the administration was likely to do “anomalies” in the election but added that he is also hopeful that the administration would rather work to save the rights given under the Constitution. Later in the day, the SP also alleged that their workers were being “restricted by the administration and being threatened using government machinery.”

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