A day after filing complaint with Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer about the  “house arrest” of its leaders in Kannauj, Samajwadi Party on Monday alleged large-scale malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Kannauj and accused the police and administration of working in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the behest of Director General of Police of UP. 

The party alleged that in at at least two polling booths in Kannauj the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine showed the voting for the BJP when the ballot was cast for the SP.

The SP demanded removal of the UP DGP for interfering in the poll process.

SP leader Rajendra Chaudhary and party’s Budaun MP Dharmendra Yadav met the Chief Electoral Officer in Lucknow and filed a formal complaint on Monday.

“Just like in the previous election phases, the EVMs are malfunctioning on a large scale in the fourth phase. SSP of Kannauj, Amrendra Singh, and some other police officers have been trying to rig the election by forcing people to vote in favour of the ruling party. All this is being done at the behest of DGP of UP Police. The DGP should be removed immediately as he will not allow fair elections to take place. He is working in favour of the incumbent party and is terorrising the voters,” SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said after meeting the Chief Electoral Officer.

Chaudhary said the EVMs in the minority-dominated areas were “made to malfunction”, many voters found their names missing and many were prevented from voting. “This is a criminal act that the administration is indulging in. They are working in favour of the party in power and it violates the model code of conduct.”

“Kannauj police officers are working for the BJP. Our party workers were given red cards and false cases were filed against them. We have urged the Chief Electoral Officer to remove the DGP immediately for free and fair polls in the state,” he added.

On Sunday, SP state chief Naresh Uttam Patel had written to the Election Commission in connection with the “house arrest” of party leader after pictures of police personnel camping outside the house of senior leaders went viral on the social media.

According to sources, more than a dozen leaders were “put under house arrest”, and this prevented them from carrying out any form of political activity.

Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, Dimple Yadav, is the SP candidate from Kannauj.