Lucknow, May 4 (PTI) Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday accused the police and the civil administration of rigging the Uttar Pradesh urban local body elections at several places and demanded action from the Election Commission.

The party alleged rigging of polling at several places in Moradabad and Saharanpur districts. It said Muslim voters were prevented to exercise their franchise and intimidation under the guise of checking identity cards.

Also Read | Shakti Bhog Foods CMD Kewal Krishan Kumar Arrested in Fraud and Cheating Case.

SP national executive member Arvind Kumar Singh in a letter to the State Election Commissioner demanded strict action against the policemen who allegedly intimidated the voters in Moradabad in the name of checking identity cards.

In another letter addressed to the State Election Commissioner, the party alleged that the names of over 100 voters each were missing from voter lists in ward number 39 in Gorakhpur.

Also Read | Gang War in Wasseypur: Gangster Faheem Khan's Son Iqbal Shot at, His Aide Dholu Killed.

Kumar, along with senior SP leaders including Ravidas Mehrotra, Rajpal Kashyap, Rajendra Chaudhary, met State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar on Thursday evening and handed over to him the party's letter listing the allegations.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress also alleged that the names of its leaders were removed from the voter list in Lucknow.

The official Twitter handle of the UP Congress tweeted, "Names of Congress leaders missing from voter list, how? When Capt Banshidhar Mishra, the chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress reached the booth in Lucknow, he came to know that his name was not there in the voter list. The same thing happened with Meenakshi Kaul as well."

The Congress alleged that its leaders were made to sit at Gautampalli police station when they filed a complaint about this to the district magistrate.

Lucknow district officials said the allegations will be looked into.

A voter turnout of nearly 52 per cent was recorded in the first phase of the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. The voting commenced at 7 am and ended at 6 pm.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)