BJP, Congress trade charge over booth-level 'irregularities' in UP's Amethi
Amethi (UP) (PTI): A dispute involving a booth level officer and her husband at a village here during the Special Intensive Revision of voter list has triggered a political confrontation, with the BJP and Congress trading allegations of electoral malpractice and intimidation.
On Friday, BJP district unit president Sudhanshu Shukla met Amethi District Magistrate Sanjay Chauhan and submitted a memorandum, alleging that the Congress was "trying to rig the electoral process".
Shukla claimed that Congress workers were conspiring to add fictitious names to the voter list while deliberately removing genuine voters from Dalit, backward, and general categories.
"Congress has a history of crushing democracy and winning elections through fraudulent voting in Amethi," he said.
He cited alleged instances of booth capturing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections at Thauri village of Jagdishpur assembly constituency and Gurjar Tola of Gauriganj assembly constituency to support his claims. "Today, the same Congress is once again attacking the roots of democracy by manipulating the voter list," he alleged.
Shukla referred to the incident of February 4, stating that at polling booths 207 and 208 in Thengha village of Amethi tehsil, Rakesh Kumar Maurya, a Congress district secretary and his wife Subhadra -- a booth level officer (BLO) posted at a different place -- tried to intimidate staff and disrupt the revision process.
Shukla claimed that the couple fled from the spot when confronted.
This comes after a complaint lodged by Maurya with Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ashish Singh on February 4. In his complaint, Maurya alleged that Shukla had summoned his wife, BLO Subhadra to an event in Thengha village, where she was pressured to fill out Form-7 and subjected to verbal abuse.
Maurya claimed that he was assaulted and his mobile phone was snatched when he intervened.
The Samajwadi Party has also entered the fray, with its district president Ram Udit Yadav meeting the Ameethi district magistrate on Thursday to demand an impartial investigation into the matter.
District Magistrate Sanjay Chauhan said the investigation has been handed over to the Amethi SDM. He added that legal action will be taken once the report is received.
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BJP alleges illegal coal trade thriving under Jharkhand govt
Ranchi (PTI): Jharkhand BJP president Aditya Sahu on Friday alleged that illegal coal trade was flourishing in the state under the patronage of the JMM-led government.
Addressing reporters at the party office here, Sahu claimed that police station in-charges and district administrations in areas where illegal coal trading was taking place were involved and being protected by the state government.
He said Jharkhand did not belong to any party or family but to its 3.5 crore people.
Sahu was responding to Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s remarks made at a programme in Koderma on Thursday that the mineral-rich state contributed to the country’s development with coal, iron, mica and other resources but remained backward, forcing its people to live in poverty.
The BJP leader said if Jharkhand provided coal, other states contributed other resources and such an exchange would continue.
He demanded that the chief minister should explain what his government had done over the last six years, claiming that only false promises had been made to the people.
Rejecting Sahu's allegations, the Congress, an alliance partner of the JMM-led government in the state, said before pointing fingers at others, BJP leaders should introspect themselves.
"How the BJP has suddenly become so concerned about traders, when during their own rule, the state's resources were openly looted and illegal coal trade received political patronage. Even today, BJP MPs and leaders' names continue to surface in coal trade matters. The BJP leadership should first answer for this," Satish Paul Munjani, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee media chairman, alleged.
He added that the allegations leveled by the BJP state president against Hemant Soren are nothing but political desperation.
"The Congress and the state government are committed to Jharkhand's development. Each and every misinformation by the BJP will be countered," Munjani said.
