They’ve put me under house arrest: Atiq

State Election Commissioner Amrit Abhijit, however, reasoned that the MP had been simply ‘‘advised’’ not to come out of his house. ‘‘ We also banned the movement of other MPs and MLAs enjoying police protection as per the EC’s directives,’’ he said.

The bypoll at Allahabad-West today saw over 50 pc voting amid sporadic violence.

The fight between Pooja Pal and Ashraf Ahmed is also a prestige issue for both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati. Raju Pal had Atiq Ahmed’s 15-year-old reign on the seat last October by defeating his brother Ashraf Ahmed by 5,000 votes. Ashraf is now in jail as an accused in Pal’s murder, while Atiq, who was charged as the main conspirator, is out on bail.

Mulayam had been here twice in the last week. But he made little mention of Ashraf in his speeches, saying that his ‘‘personal prestige’’ was involved. The only mention of Ashraf was: ‘‘You can compare me to Lord Rama who had to desert Sita though she had passed the agnipariksha. I, too, had to desert Atiq and Ashraf in the same way,’’ the CM had said on Monday.

The EC today did not take kindly to the SP’s might on full display in Allahabad. After issuing shoot-at-sight orders, it declared 341 of the 375 booths sensitive. Also, only CRPF and PAC were deployed.