UP bypolls Cops shouldn't check voter ID at booths only poll officers allowed SP

Lucknow, Nov 19 (PTI) Ahead of the voting for bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has requested the Election Commission to issue instructions that on polling day, police officers are not allowed to check the ID of voters, only polling officers are permitted to do so.
     SP's UP unit chief Shyam Lal Pal, in a memorandum submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer of UP, claimed that during the Lok Sabha elections, police personnel posted at polling centres attempted to scare off Muslim women, who are primarily SP voters, by asking them remove their veils and identify themselves.
     Citing the handbook for returning officers, the SP leader said the ID of the voter can only be checked by the polling officer.
     In a memorandum dated November 18, Pal said, "Written orders should be issued to the returning officers, district election officers/district magistrates, general observers and officials of the police that on November 20, the day of polling, no police personnel should check the voter ID card of the voter."
    "During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, police personnel posted in security duty at various polling centres, while misusing their posts and power, in the garb of identifying the SP voters especially the Muslim women voters, lifted their veils ('nakaab'), in order to make them feel afraid."
     They had to return from the polling centre without exercising their voting rights, which affected the final outcome of the elections as there was a decline in voting percentage at the polling booths, he said.
     The BJP responded to the development, saying the SP was afraid of losing the polls and was trying the pin the blame on the Elections Commission.
     "Due to fear of defeat, the SP is making childish demands from the Election Commission that identity cards should not be checked," UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said on Tuesday.
     He added that in the past, women wearing burqas have been caught doing "fake voting".
     SP leader Shyam Lal Pal, in his memo, also claimed that in the hamlets that have SP supporters, especially Muslims, not all people have voter slips. Ensuring voter slips for all will improve the voting percentage, he said.
     Pal also said that BJP candidate in Karhal Anujesh Pratap Singh's movements should be videographed to ensure impartial elections. Anujesh Singh, a relative of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is up against the latter's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav. Singh, who switched over to the BJP from the SP in 2017, is married to Sandhya Yadav -- SP MP Dharmendra Yadav's sister and Akhilesh Yadav's cousin.
     In the bypoll to the Karhal seat, there are seven candidates in the fray. The bye-election in the constituency was necessitated after Akhilesh Yadav was elected as an MP from Kannauj. Polling for bypolls in nine assembly seats will be held on Wednesday and votes will be counted on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)