Amid the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, a young Dalit woman’s body was found in a sack in Karhal constituency on Wednesday morning. After the incident came to light, a political storm erupted after the family of the victim alleged that a local Samajwadi Party worker had been pressuring her against voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the bypolls.
According to the police, the accused were identified as Prashant Yadav and Mohan Katheria, according to an NDTV report. They have been arrested after a case was registered on a complaint by the woman’s father. “The parents of the woman have said the accused killed her because she wanted to vote for the BJP,” Mainpuri district police chief Vinod Kumar said, as quoted by NDTV.
The father of the victim alleged that Prashant Yadav came to their home three days ago and asked his victim daughter which party she would vote for. She responded that she would vote ‘lotus’ — the BJP’s symbol — because her family got a home under the PM Awas Yojana. After that, Yadav threatened her and asked her to vote for ‘cycle’—the’ Samajwadi Party’s election symbol.
Following the claims of the father, the saffron party slammed the Samajwadi Party over the woman’s death. “At Karhal in Mainpuri district, Samajwadi Party’s Prashant Yadav and his aides brutally murdered a Dalit daughter only because she refused to vote for ‘cycle’,” state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said in a post on X.
The Samajwadi party’s Karhal candidate, Tej Pratap Yadav, said there must be a thorough probe and the guilty must face tough punishment. Party spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary told PTI, “This is a conspiracy to defame the Samajwadi Party by the BJP, which often engages in such activities. This has nothing to do with the SP.”
Separately, the party’s handle on ‘X’ put up a post, alleging that police were intimidating voters in Karhal in the name of patrolling.
The allegations against the Akhilesh Yadav-led party came amid a blame game between the ruling BJP and the opposition SP as nine Assembly constituencies in UP vote in today’s bypolls.
The seats on which the bypolls are being held are: Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur, and Kundarki. The bypolls were necessitated as these seats felt vacant after the sitting MLAs were elected to Lok Sabha. Prior to Lok Sabha polls, which were held earlier this year, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav represented Karhal in the state assembly. He was elected to the Lower House as Kannauj MP.
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