India News | SP Stages Walk-out in UP House over EVM Row

Lucknow, May 30 (PTI) Samajwadi Party members on Monday staged a walk-out from the Uttar Pradesh legislative council alleging that their party workers are being harassed for protesting over "unauthorised" movement of EVMs in Varanasi.

In March, SP workers had protested claiming that a truck carrying EVMs was "intercepted" just ahead of the counting of votes in the assembly polls.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: 2 Terrorists, Including Killer of Cop, Neutralized in Encounter.

The Election Commission had, however, clarified that these EVMs were "marked for training" of those officials who would on duty during the counting of votes and were not used in elections.

In the legislative council on Monday, Leader of the House Swatantra Dev Singh, too, cited the Election Commission to rule out any foul play.

Also Read | Jammu & Kashmir Encounter: Killer of Cop Among 2 JeM Terrorists Neutralized in Pulwama District.

The matter was raised during the Zero Hour through an adjournment notice.

SP leader Naresh Uttam Patel said after the results were announced on March 11, the police registered two cases against SP workers who reportedly took part in the protest and arrested them.

They were released on bail, but the police arrested them again, Patel said.

He accused the state government of "irregularities" and said that the Election Commission's decision to suspend the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) indicated that the officer was allegedly hand-in-glove with the government.

"Even after the ADM's suspension, the police are arresting SP workers without any evidence," he claimed.

Swatantra Dev Singh, who is also the state BJP chief, alleged that the SP workers, in the garb of a protest, had even stopped the district magistrate's vehicle assuming that the Akhilesh Yadav-led party was coming to power in the state.

Leader of Opposition Lal Bihari Yadav, however, said the SP workers were only "keeping a watch on EVMs" from outside the counting centre as they were apprehensive that the machines were being tampering with.

Currently, 28 SP workers are lodged in jail for staging a protest, he added.

(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)