LUCKNOW, JUNE 14: At least nine people were killed and more than two dozen injured in violence and police firing at different places in the first phase of panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh today. Two candidates from Banda and Gonda, meanwhile, died following heart attacks.Principal Secretary, Home, V K Mittal said two people were killed in group clashes and firings at Kishani village under the Rangpur police station of Maipuri district. Two more dead bodies were found in a field in the district, he said.In another incident, at Udharna village of Bisheshwar police station of Shrawasti district, two groups of people clashed, leaving two dead. One person each was killed in poll-related clashes in Azamgarh and Ghaziabad districts.Meanwhile, in Baghpat district, a blast went off near a polling booth in Bijbad village. Angry villagers stopped polling and pelted stones at the police force and election officials deployed in the village. They also took away the polling papers and set fire to the booth. The police opened fire to control the situation, leaving a 14-year-old boy dead and two people injured. SHO Binauli O P Sharma is said to have sustained injuries in the stoning.In other incidents of poll violence, two people fled with the ballot boxes, firing at the polling booth, in Juparia village of Badaun district. One person was seriously injured in the incident.In Surajpur village of Rae Bareilly district, polling had to be postponed following large-scale violence. Clashes were also reported from Shahjahanpur, Sitapur and some other places, Mittal said.Elsewhere, including the sensitive Meerut district, the polling passed off peacefully. In the three blocks which went to polls in the first phase in Meerut, as many as 76 candidates with criminal links were in the fray. To prevent any untoward incident, security arrangements had been beefed up. On poll eve, 95 people were booked under the Goonda Act, 60 under the Gangster Act and two arrested under the National Security Act. Licensed firearm holders were also asked to surrender their weapons.Besides, around 25,000 ``potential mischief makers'' were rounded up and asked to sign bonds for between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Vehicular traffic movement was banned in the polling areas.Elections were held today in 251 of the total 815 development blocks in the state, spread over 71 districts. In the second phase on June 17, 180 development blocks will go to polls, and in the third on June 20, 212 development blocks will see elections. The fourth and final phase will feature 72 development blocks.Of the total panchayat posts, 21 per cent are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, 27 per cent for the Backwards and 33 per cent for women. A record number of 18.5 lakh candidates are in the fray for the 7.35 lakh posts in the three-tier panchayat bodies.
