BJP Bareilly chief booked for assaulting SDM, absconding

Ravindra Singh Rathore

BJP’s Bareilly chief and his brother went missing on Saturday after they were booked for allegedly assaulting a returning officer soon after the Nawabganj municipal board chairperson seat result was declared the previous day.
Ravindra Singh Rathore, the party district chief, was in the news in September when he had gone missing. Nine days later, he had called his family from Madhya Pradesh and said he had gone to visit a temple.

On Friday, Rathore’s sister-in-law Premlata was contesting as BJP candidate for the chairperson seat. She lost to BSP’s Shahla Tahir by a margin of 171 votes.

Rathore and his brother Narendra sought a re-count of votes before the results were announced. When the officer, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Rajesh Kumar refused, they allegedly assaulted him. Rathore has denied this and instead accused Kumar of favouring Tahir.

“Counting was completed by around 7 pm Friday,” said SDM Kumar. “I was about to declare the results when Narendra came and asked for a re-count. I had supervised the counting of votes and felt there was no reason for it. So I rejected his request and announced Tahir’s victory.”

It was then, he alleged, that Ravindra and his associates attacked him.

“I left the place with the help of the police present there. A few minutes later, District Magistrate (DM) Raghvendra Vikram Singh and SSP Jogendra Kumar reached the place. Rathore left after talking to them,” he said. “The allegation that I favoured Tahir is baseless.”

Rathore, meanwhile, said he had earlier requested DM Singh to shift Kumar.

“Before the elections, I had requested the DM to shift the SDM and Circle Officer (CO) Girish Kumar Singh from Nawabganj to some other place because they could help Tahir. I also lodged a complaint in this regard to state election commission, but no one took it seriously,” he said.

He alleged that the 240 “invalid” votes were counted in the final tally.

“They didn’t have signature of the presiding officer. The SDM counted these votes too,” he said. “When I came to know that SDM had refused a re-count, I went to meet him but instead met the DM. He said that he would talk to the state election commission about it.”

“No one assaulted the SDM. He got the FIR lodged only to protect himself. He took money from Tahir,” he claimed.
While CO Singh denied Ravindra Singh’s allegations, SDM Kumar said that 240 votes were indeed invalid but that he had not included them in the final tally.

Rathore has been booked under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder), among
others.

The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was also invoked as SDM Kumar belonged to the scheduled caste, said CO Singh.

IG Bareilly Range S K Bhagat said, “Directions have been issued to SSP Bareilly to verify the allegations by going through video and statement of people present at the spot and then take necessary action.”

SSP (Bareilly) Jogendra Kumar said, “Police are conducting raids to arrest the accused.”

The rivalry between Tahir, who had won the last election as Samajwadi Party nominee, and Ravindra Singh Rathore is not new.

Tahir had filed 33 cases against Rathore on February 14, 2015. She had accused him for forgery and cheating during his 2001 term as Nawabganj municipal board chairperson. After the BJP came to power in the state, however, the police filed closure report in all these cases.