The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday alleged that the state police stopped dalits from casting votes in the first phase of elections on eight Lok Sabha seats of western Uttar Pradesh.

BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra said, “We are receiving information from various polling stations that BSP voters, especially Dalits, are being stopped from reaching polling booths. The police are even going to the extent of using force to stop people from exercising their franchise.”

“This is apparently being done following the diktats of higher authorities. Immediate intervention is required on this otherwise there is no purpose of elections and advertisements by the Election Commission asking people to vote,” he added.

Mishra said he had also talked to the director general of police OP Singh asking him to take appropriate action.

Meanwhile, UP chief electoral officer L Venkateshwarlu said no written complaint was received from the BSP following which the DMs of all the districts were directed to check if members of a particular community were being stopped from voting. “The complaint was found to be fake,” he added.

Hours after Mishra’s complaint, Samajwadi Party national president tweeted that it was sinful and criminal denying Dalits their right to franchise.

Hitting out at the SP-BSP alliance, UP health minister Sidharth Nath Singh said, “The way senior BSP leader SC Mishra has complained to the EC that Dalits are not being allowed to vote, it is clear that the calculations of the alliance is not working.”

He said the reports pouring in after the first phase of elections indicate that the BJP would repeat its performance of 2014 Lok Sabha election.

“It is now clear that the core voter of Mayawati is still supporting Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he added.

First Published: Apr 12, 2019 09:02 IST