Lucknow: The situation in Uttar Pradesh turned tense as violence erupted over the past three days amid the ongoing panchayat polls where the tussle between the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) has intensified ahead of next year’s assembly election.
Several purported videos of clashes between party workers surfaced on social media, and were immediately widely shared. While the Samajwadi Party accused the ruling BJP of using the police and state machinery to turn the polls in its favour, the BJP blamed the opposition for triggering the violence.
There were reports of clashes in at least 17 districts, including in Lucknow, Kanpur, Etawah and Unnao. Several purported videos of police firing and lathi-charging surfaced on social media. Another video, purportedly showing a journalist being beaten up by the Unnao chief development officer Saturday, was widely shared.
There were also reports that two women’s saree were pulled, on Thursday and Friday. The National Commission for Women took suo motu cognisance of the issue and asked the UP Police to take action. One of the incidents took place during the filing of nominations for the block chairman polls in Lakhimpur Kheri Thursday.
उन्नाव में भाजपा नेताओं और प्रशासन की गुंडई का एक और शर्मसार कर देने वाला वीडियो आया सामने।
सीडीओ ने ब्लॉक प्रमुख चुनाव में धांधली उजागर करने वाले पत्रकार को दौड़ा दौड़ा कर पीटा, घोर निंदनीय!
दोषी अधिकारी के खिलाफ हो सख्त एक्शन। pic.twitter.com/k4SbLM8aUJ
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) July 10, 2021
स्वयं जो लज्जा हीन पड़े हैं
वे क्या लाज बचायेंगे
सुनो द्रोपदी शस्त्र उठालो,
अब गोविंद ना आयेंगे
करोड़ों रुपये महिला सुरक्षा वाले विज्ञापनों पर फूंके गए हैं परिणाम आपके सामने है।#Yogi_Isteefa_Do pic.twitter.com/3PfgPvqwLL
— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) July 9, 2021
Policemen were also allegedly attacked in several districts, resulting in the UP Police ordering action against those involved. Additional Director General of Police, law and order, Prashant Kumar told the media that minor clashes took place in 17 places and all district police chiefs were told to act against the culprits.
‘High-stakes’ polls
The panchayat polls come at a time when parties have been firming up their political campaigns and agenda for next year’s crucial assembly election. Though panchayat polls were not particularly contested along political lines in the past, these polls have now taken on new significance.
To that end, the BJP and the SP, which lost power in the previous assembly election, have been working to strengthen their base in rural areas.
Professor Kaviraj, a political science faculty member at Lucknow University, explained that panchayat polls take place in three categories — gram panchayats, kshetra panchayats, and zila panchayats.
In the first phase of the election, people vote for the gram pradhans (village heads), and ward members of the kshetra (block) panchayat and zila panchayat. In the second phase, those elected choose their chairpersons. The clashes erupted during the second phase.
The SP claimed it had won the first phase but there lacked clarity on the independent candidates, who are key to clinching the chairperson posts in both kshetra and zila panchayats.
“The BJP was under some pressure after the first phase polls. So, it tried much more in the second phase. Somehow, they got the support of independents in zila panchayat adhyaksh polls. Now, in the block pramukh election, they were trying to win but the SP beaome more attentive, so we have seen clashes happen at several places,” Kaviraj told ThePrint.
Political analyst Professor Kamal Kumar said these rural polls have a lot at stake. “It is not less than the assembly polls. This kind of campaign happened in these polls. It seems like it’s a high-budget election which has a lot at stake for both ruling and opposition parties. Such clashes in rural polls used to happen earlier also… now in the era of social media it has emerged more,” he said.
Also read: BJP crossed all limits to stop a woman’s nomination in UP blockhead polls, slams Congress
Poll process so far
The first phase of the polls were held in April and May for the posts of 58,000 gram pradhans, about 75,000 kshetra panchayat ward members and 3,050 zila panchayat ward members.
The second phase, that took place on 3 July, happened for 75 zila panchayat chairpersons. Polls for 825 kshetra panchayats happened Saturday.
Given that elections are not contested on party lines, it is not always clear which party has ‘won’ the maximum number of seats. SP claimed that it won more than 1,000 wards in the zila panchayat polls, including in districts such as Ayodhya, Varanasi and Prayagraj — BJP’s strongholds.
In the election for zila parishad chairpersons in 75 seats, the BJP claimed that 67 of the winners were candidates it was backing. In the kshetra panchayat polls, it claimed 625 of 825 seats.
SP, BJP trade allegations
According to I.P. Singh, the Samajwadi Party spokesperson, the BJP “used the whole state machinery to influence the election”.
“They did not win in direct voting, so now they are trying to win it by other tactics. Yogi Adityanath is directly responsible for the violence (that) happened in the past three days. Our members’ nomination papers were torn. Women members pushed and even sarees pulled. This has happened in Yogi’s raj (rule). They stopped our members from filing nominations,” he told ThePrint.
A Samajwadi Party candidate’s nomination papers were allegedly snatched in the presence of former speaker Mata Prasad in Siddharthnagar. Similar incidents were reported from Unnao’s Nawabganj area, where BJP cadres tried to snatch candidates’ nomination papers, he added.
However, BJP spokesperson in UP, Rakesh Tripathi, denied the allegations and said the Samajwadi Party leaders were “frustrated because they lost the panchayat polls very badly”.
“I also agree, if anyone is found guilty of doing violence, strict action should be taken against them, but it is all opposition propaganda, which they are running on social media.”
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
Also read: It’s ‘jungle raj’ under BJP, says Mayawati on reports of violence during UP panchayat polls