SP requests EC to deploy additional security forces at Jaunpur's “extremely sensitive” booth

|HT|

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday requested the Election Commission (EC) to deploy additional security forces at “extremely sensitive” polling booths of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh to ensure free and fair polling.

Jaunpur will vote in the seventh and final phase of the election on March 7 along with 54 other Assembly constituencies in the state.

In a letter addressed to the EC, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party said there had been incidents of booth capturing in the area during the 2017 Assembly election, adding voters were stopped by specific people.

"In these election booths, attempts were made to stop the poor, backward classes’ people from voting," the party said in its letter.

"The Samajwadi Party demands the deployment of paramilitary forces on these 136 extremely sensitive polling booths along with a flag march before the polling to end the fear among the voters," the letter read.

The SP also filed a complaint against the Badaun superintendent of police, alleging that he entered the strong room of the constituency without prior permission. Stating that electronic voting machines (EVM) are kept inside strong rooms, the SP said a police officer's entry on the premises raised questions over the partiality of the ongoing elections.

During the first phase of polling on February 10, the SP had requested the EC to take appropriate action wherever there were reports of technical snags in EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs).

On Friday, Yadav wrote on Twitter, “There is an appeal and expectation from the Election Commission that wherever there are allegations of EVM malfunctioning or deliberately slowing down of polling, it should immediately take appropriate action at those polling stations. Smooth and fair voting is the biggest responsibility of the Election Commission.”

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)