Did UP cop threaten voters? Akhilesh Yadav shares video, police deny charge

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday demanded suspension of the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kakarouli police station, located in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirapur, accusing him of threatening voters with force and revolver and stopping them from casting their ballots in the by-elections in the populous state.
Muzaffarnagar Police, however, refuted the allegations made by Akhilesh Yadav and issued a clarification, stating that the police action in Mirapur area was in response to a dispute between two groups.
Sharing a video of the alleged incident, Akhilesh Yadav urged the Election Commission (EC) to immediately suspend the cop for obstructing the voting process.
“The Election Commission should immediately suspend SHO of Kakarwali police station area of Mirapur because he is stopping voters from casting their votes by threatening them with a revolver,” the former Chief Minister said.
The purported video shared by the Samajwadi Party chief showed a police officer, donning safety guards and a helmet, pointing his service gun at some female voters in Mirapur.
The women can’t be heard confronting the cop, asking him why can’t they go and vote. However, the cop, accompanied by many other police officials, forced them to return to their homes.
Polling for the by-elections in nine Assembly constituencies across Uttar Pradesh gained momentum after a slow start, with voter turnout reaching approximately 42 per cent by 3 pm on Wednesday.
The voting process began at 7 am in the constituencies of Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur, and Kundarki and ended at 5 pm.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission suspended around 4 police officers after Samajwadi Party accused them of violating poll guidelines on checking of voters and stopping them from casting votes in the bypolls.
The Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh claimed that in some places the police personnel were checking the IDs of people and deterring them from voting.
According to officials, four cops on poll duty were suspended in Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar. In Moradabad, an unknown number of personnel on traffic duty were shunted.