Uttarakhand : During the counting of votes, workers pelted stones in Haridwar-Roorkee, police chased them by lathi-charge
During the counting of votes for Haridwar Panchayat elections, there was a ruckus in Bahadarabad of Haridwar and Mangalore of Roorkee. ASP supporters and Bhim Army workers pelted stones at the police team for recounting of votes at Tikaula, the district panchayat seat. Six policemen including a post in-charge were injured in the attack. The police chased away the stone pelters by lathi-charge. At the same time, the police have taken 36 bikes and many people into custody from the spot. The injured policemen have been admitted to the hospital. On the information of stone pelting, the SSP also reached the spot and took information. Along with this, strict action was directed against the accused.
Azad Samaj Party’s candidate Surendra Kumar was contesting the district panchayat seat Tikoula. In front of him was Anshul Chaudhary, nephew of BSP leader Rajendra Chaudhary. After the results, Anshul Choudhary’s victory was declared by 275 votes. On this, Surendra Kumar alleged that earlier he was declared victorious and the demand for recounting was not heard. After this, he informed the matter to the National President of Azad Samaj Party, Chandrashekhar Azad.
At around four o’clock, he along with his supporters reached the counting place Gur Mandi and tried to enter inside but the policemen stopped him at the gate itself. On this he sat on a dharna in front of the gate. After this, Chandrashekhar and Mehak Singh, while addressing the supporters, talked about complaining to the Election Commission in the matter and getting justice by taking shelter of the court, then both the leaders left but the supporters stood for a long time.
Meanwhile, when the policemen asked to vacate the place after their leaders had left, a scuffle ensued. Then one of the supporters started pelting stones. After stone-pelting, the policemen ran inside the gate, then came out wearing helmets and chased them away while lathi-charging. After the situation came under control, the police loaded 36 bikes into the truck from the spot. Also, six people were taken into custody.
All the injured policemen, including the injured police outpost in-charge, were first admitted to CHC Mangalore and then to Civil Hospital Roorkee. SSP Dr. Yogendra Singh Rawat, after inspecting the spot, reached the hospital and inquired about the condition of the injured. On the other hand, SP Dehat Pramendra Singh Dobal said that a case is being registered against everyone. At the same time, in the ongoing counting of votes in the National Inter College, Rohalki in Bahadarabad, there was a dispute on Thursday night regarding the recounting of votes for the post of head on the Abidpur-Bhagtanpur Panchayat seat. The dispute escalated so much that hundreds of supporters standing outside the polling booth broke the barricades and pelted stones.
Many vehicles were damaged due to this. The police chased away the stone pelters. The stone-pelters fled through the paths of the fields. Counting of votes was disrupted due to the incident and police officials arrived and inspected. In the Abidpur-Bhagtanpur panchayat seat, there was a dispute over the counting of votes of Babli and Afzal of the post of village head. It is being told that Babli had won in the counting of votes. But on the other side Afzal’s agents started demanding recounting of votes. Babli won even after re-counting. Due to this, the other side started shouting slogans at 7.30 pm demanding recounting of votes, accusing the administration of making Babli win.
Hundreds of supporters became agitated outside the centre. They tried to enter inside by breaking the barricades. When the police stopped, they pelted stones. Due to which many bikes were damaged. Police personnel narrowly escaped in stone pelting. On getting information about the incident, several police officers including SP City Swatantra Kumar, CO Sadar Bahadur Singh Chauhan reached the spot. SSP Dr. Yogendra Singh Chouhan said that strict action will be taken after identifying the miscreants.
