With 74 percent voter turnout in the first phase of polls of village prdhan, one person was shot dead in Mainpuri and five persons were injured. Incidents of booth capturing, snatching of ballot papers and related irregularities in polls were reported from other districts as well.
In Sultanganj village of Bichwan police station of Mainpuri, Devendra Yadav, a candidate for village pradhan suffered gunshot wounds while his driver Avneesh Yadav succumbed to injuries during a group clash. Five others were also injured in the exchange of fire. Devendra Yadav is the brother of former village pradhan Rishi Yadav, who has been elected as member of District Panchayat. The injured were rushed to UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences at Saifai (Etawah) where the condition of Devendra is said to be critical. The State Election Commission sources said that complaints of booth capturing from several other places in Mainpuri were received. The SEC has asked for a report from the DM.
For the election of village prdhan as many 1.47 lakh candidates were in the fray for 15, 646 posts of village panchayats. As many as 2.47 lakh candidates are in the fray and for 1.96 lakh posts of members of village panchayat.
Meanwhile, incidents of group clash and booth capturing were reported from Etah where supporters of the ruling SP stormed a polling booth and looted ballot papers at Rampur village. An aspiring village prdhan in Mathura was injured when the police fired in the air to quell a rioting mob.
In Hardoi, rival groups clashed in Beniganj where one person received gunshot injuries. A former block pramukh along with 12 other persons were arrested in Hardoi while distributing sarees to the voters.
In Agra, stamped ballot papers were recovered from the residence of a candidate for village prdhan. Sporadic incidents of clashes and irregularities were reported from Barabanki, Fatehpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Chandauli, Ballia, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar.
Similar clashes were reported from Farrukhabad where supporters clashed over fake voting. In Kanpur Dehat, the police arrested the husband of a woman candidate for village pradhan who entered the polling booth with his revolver. Similar incidents were reported from Aligarh, Saharanpur and other districts.
SEC, SK Agarwal said that on Saturday polling was held in 15,646 villages falling under 221 development blocks. In the first phase polling was also held for over 1.96 lakh members of village council. The commission had set up 20,935 polling centers and 47,000 polling booths.
In the first phase polling was held in two development blocks Chinhat and Bakshi Ka Talab in lucknow. The SEC said that in all blocks of lucknow and adjoining districts, polling will be held on December 7 instead of December 6. He said that the polling date has been deferred by a day due to the death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar on December 6. Hence, the date of counting has also been extended by a day to December 13. He said as per directives of the Supreme Court, lok Adalats will be organised on December 12. The UP legal Services Authority had requested for change in the date of counting which was allowed by the SEC.