Even as the violence marred the election for the village panchyats 75 per cent voters turnout was recorded in the third phase of the polls held on Saturday. One person received bullet injuries as the supporters of the rival candidates clashed in Madhpura village of Karhal block in Mainpuri district. Three people were arrested by the police for violence in Mainpuri.
The State election Commissioner SK Agarwal on Saturday ordered the suspension of two sub divisional magistrates for irregularities in voting and electoral rolls. One SDM posted in Moradabad district while other is in Ballia district.
For the third phase of polls the State Election commission had identified 30 districts as hyper sensitive. For the peaceful conduct of the polls the SEC had ordered the videography of all the polling centers. Around 37,000 trainee police personals, 93,000 home guards, over One lakh village chowkidars and 139 companies of the PAC. Two persons were killed in second phase of polls held on December 1.
Mahendra Yadav, son of the former MlA Rajbali Yadav in Azamgarh was shot on Saturday morning. He was rushed to Varanasi in a critical condition. The SEC has however said it was not a poll related incident of violence. Police had to fire in air to quell the riotous mob in Ballia as the villagers protested against the fake voting under police protection. One persopn received gun shot injuries in Sambhal district in a group clash in Faridpur village under Gunnaur police station of the district.
In Jaunpur district three persons were arrested. Two were arrested for attempting to cast fake votes in Khandpur village under Sikrara police station while one candidate for the village prdhan was arrested in Rampur block of the district for distributing cash to voters. Police also recovered Rs 80,000 cash from the candidate.
In Saunspur village of Kannauj district 4 persons including candidate for village prdhan were arrested for fake voting. In Mathura anti social elements made attempts to snatch the rifle of the home guard when he intervened in a group clash. Three persons were arrested in the incident. A police constable deployed at Rampur baksh block of bahriach district suffered a massive heart attack and died while taken to the hospital.
Several persons were injured in a group clash in Sangrtamgarh block of Prtapgarh district. In MIrzapur one policeman was injured as the police vehicle in poll duty overturned. In Ranipur block of Mau district over three dozen fake voters were arrested.
In Dadiyapur village of Ballia district the villagers clashed over allegations of fake voting. In Rampur block of Chanduli district the villagers angry over the alleged discrimination by the police pelted stone on the police party where a sub inspector was injured.
In the third phase of election 2.59 crore voters were expected to exercise their franchise. The poll was held in 181 development blocks spread in 67 district. For 13,182 posts of village prdhan as many as 1.8 lakh candidates are in the fray which includes 40 percent women candidates. . The SEC had set up 17,392 polling centers and over 39,000 polling booths.
The State Election commissioner SK Agarwal the counting of votes will be taken up on December 13. Earlier counting of votes was schedules to be held on October 12.