Police also responsible for lynching incidents: Rajasthan Minister
Jaipur, July 26: Like cow smugglers, the Rajasthan Police is also responsible for the rise in cases of cow smuggling and consequent incidents of mob lynching, a state Minister has said.
"Had policemen been honest and responsible, neither Pehlu Khan nor Rakbar Khan would have died," said Rajasthan Labour Minister Jaswant Singh Yadav while talking to the media on the sidelines of a two-day district level Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) meeting held in Behror on Wednesday.
He also stood by the statement he issued earlier calling upon the minority community to "stop consuming beef" to respect the sentiments of Hindus and to "keep away from cow smuggling".
According to Yadav, incidents of mob lynching and cow smuggling are increasing as the police have failed to do their duty in a responsible manner.
"The incidents of mob lynching of cow smugglers cannot be stopped without police's cooperation," said the Minister.
While condemning the incidents of mob lynching, Yadav also said that all religions should respect the sentiments of Hindus and work for the protection of cows.
"This will help in promoting communal harmony and cases of cow smuggling will eventually be checked," he added.
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Assam bypolls: 13pc voting in 5 assembly seats till 9 AM
Guwahati (PTI): Nearly 13 per cent of 9.1 lakh electors cast their votes in the first two hours of polling on Wednesday during by-elections to five assembly constituencies in Assam, according to official data.
According to the Election Commission, approximately 12.55 per cent of 9,09,057 electors, including 4,54,963 women and 19 third gender, exercised their franchise in the first two hours till 9 AM to decide the fate of 34 candidates.
There are also 2,617 service voters in these five constituencies, where polling is taking place as per pre-delimitation data, an official said.
Bypolls are taking place in Dholai (SC), Sidli (ST), Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri assembly constituencies as these seats fell vacant with the representatives of them winning the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Bongaigaon recorded the highest turnout of 15.34 per cent, followed by Samaguri at 14.7 per cent, Sidli at 12.51 per cent, Behali at 11 per cent and Dholai at 9.15 per cent, ECI data showed.
"Voting is going on peacefully so far and we have not received any adverse report. People started coming to their respective booths from as early as 5:30 am. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling booths in most of the places," Assam Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel told PTI.
He said that there were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs in some booths during the mock polling, and those machines were replaced.
Most of the contesting candidates have voted in their respective booths during the first two hours of polling.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the people of Behali, Samaguri, Dholai, Bongaigaon and Sidli to come out and actively take part in the bypolls.
"Your voice matters and the choice you make will determine the course of your constituency's development in the coming days," he said in a post on X.
Voting began at 7 AM and is scheduled to conclude at 5 PM.
Around 9,000 polling personnel have been engaged to have a smooth election across 1,078 polling stations in the five seats.
Webcasting is being done from 592 polling stations, while 11 booths have been made as model polling stations and 14 are being managed by all-women staff.
A total of 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), comprising about 1,500 personnel, have been deployed in all the polling stations, supported by Assam Police.
