Lucknow, Oct 26 (PTI) Ahead of the November 13 by-elections to nine Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday demanded immediate transfer of three officials from Moradabad to ensure that the bypoll in Kundarki in the district is held in a free and fair manner without any fear.
The three officials in question are divisional commissioner Anjaneya Kumar Singh, Kundarki police station in-charge Pradeep Kumar Sehrawat, and district supply officer Ajay Pratap Singh, the SP said in a statement.
“The party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Shyam Lal Pal has submitted a memorandum to the state chief electoral officer demanding immediate transfer of Anjaneya Kumar Singh, Ajay Pratap Singh and Pradeep Kumar Sehrawat so that the bypoll in Kundarki can be held freely, fairly and without any fear,” SP’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said in the statement.
According to the memorandum, Sikkim-cadre officer Anjaneya Kumar Singh has been on deputation in Uttar Pradesh for more than nine years and eight months, including over five years and eight months in the Moradabad division.
The divisional commissioner has been accused of influencing elections during previous polls as well, sparking demands for his transfer, the SP claimed, adding that the bypoll in Kundarki cannot be held freely if Anjaneya Singh remains in his post.
In the memorandum, the SP accused Pradeep Sehrawat of calling the members of the nagar panchayat, village heads, and public representatives to the Kundarki police station and threatening to implicate them in false cases if they didn’t vote in favour of the BJP.
The SP also accused the police officer of telling those going against the BJP to leave the Assembly constituency two days before polling.
Supply officer Ajay Pratap Singh has been accused of intimidating ration dealers, including 20,000 truck owners, to campaign and vote for the BJP, as per the memorandum also signed by SP leaders K K Srivastava, Harishchandra Singh and Radheshyam Singh.
The eight seats going to the bypolls on November 13 along with Kundarki include Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sishamau (Kanpur City), Khair (Aligarh), and Phulpur (Prayagraj).
Eight of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs got elected as Lok Sabha MPs in June this year, while in Sishamau, SP MLA Irfan Solanki was disqualified following his conviction in a criminal case.
The SP has fielded candidates in all the nine seats, with Mohammad Rizwan contesting from Kundraki.
The other nominees are Singh Raj Jatav (Ghaziabad), Charu Kain (Khair), Tej Pratap Yadav (Karhal), Naseem Solanki (Sishamau), Mustafa Siddiqui (Phulpur), Shobhawati Verma (Katehari), Jyoti Bind (Majhwan), and Sumbul Rana (Meerapur). PTI NAV ARI
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