Altercations between supporters of rival candidates on Monday night and Tuesday were reported from at least five constituencies of the State. Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress candidates in Kotdwar assembly constituency were reported to have had a violent altercation on Monday night while on Tuesday, in the lalkuan constituency, the son of the sitting MlA and Congress candidate Harish Chandra Durgapal, Pankaj Durgapal was injured when assaulted allegedly by the angry supporters of an independent candidate. Heavy police force has been deployed in the area after the violent altercation.
According to information received, the Congress candidate’s son Pankaj Durgapal was returning hom from the Tiwarinagar area of Bindukhatta late in the evening on Tuesday. It is alleged that supporters of an independent candidate, leveling the accusation of money being distributed to entice voters, gheraoed the car Durgapal was travelling in and purportedly started manhandling the assaulting him. As soon as the police were informed about the situation, inspector Ummed Singh Danu reached the site of the incident with police force and extricated Durgapal from there. The police took the reportedly injured son of the Congress candidate to the police Kotwali from where he was taken in a 108 service ambulance and admitted to a private hospital in Haldwani. Till the time of this report being filed, there was heavy police presence in the area with the altercation being investigated into by the police.
The state police inspector general (law and order) Deepam Seth acknowledged that information had been received about an altercation between supporters of rival candidates in the Pauri district on Monday night but the situation had been brought under control. According to sources, the supporters of BJP candidate Harak Singh Rawat and Congress candidate Surendra Singh Negi had a scuffle in Kotdwar on Monday night. Police had to use force to disperse the aggressive supporters to maintain peace in the area. Pauri Police claimed that situation is under control. After being informed about scuffle among supporters of two political parties, police personnel were deployed at the sites in question with order being restored by the authorities. later they gheraoed the Kotdwar police station in response to which the police resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse supporters of both the parties. However, FIRs have been registered after receiving complaints from both the sides and police are investigating the case, said Pauri senior superintendent of police Mukhtar Mohsin on Tuesday. Sources said that altercations were also reported in Tanakpur, Pithoragarh and Champawat constituencies.