SP workers on way to protest Kundarki bypoll 'rigging' detained, Akhilesh calls for cognisance

Sitapur, UP: About 35 Samajwadi Party workers were detained in this Uttar Pradesh district early on Sunday when they were travelling to Lucknow from Moradabad to protest against "rigging" in the Kundarki assembly bypoll, a top official said.

Reacting to their detention, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav appealed to President Droupadi Murmi and several institutions, including the Supreme Court, to take immediate cognisance of the matter and ensure that the state's BJP government did not commit any injustice or atrocity against those raising their voices for their right to vote.

The police in Sitapur said 35 "suspicious persons" and five vehicles from different districts were stopped during routine checking on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday with a view to prevent crimes.

Action will be taken, according to the rules, if they do not have the relevant vehicle documents, the police added.

Yadav said in a post on X on Sunday, "People who were stopped from casting their votes in public in Kundarki or whose votes were cast by someone else were coming to Lucknow to narrate their plight because there was no one paying heed at the local level."

"This would have exposed the BJP's election scam; that is why they were detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police midway in Sitapur," the Kannauj MP further said in Hindi.

The BJP's Ramveer Singh won the Kundarki assembly seat in the bypoll, defeating Mohammad Rizwan of the Samajwadi Party by 1,44,791 votes, the Election Commission said on Saturday.

Samajwadi Party chief Yadav also appealed to the president, Supreme Court, Election Commission, National Human Rights Commission, the governor and all newspapers and news channels of the country "to take immediate cognisance of the matter and ensure that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh does not commit any injustice or atrocity against those who want to raise their voices for their right to vote".

Samajwadi Party national secretary Anoop Gupta alleged that all the people detained had identity cards and documents but the administration was not listening to them.

The detained workers are not being allowed to use the toilet. They were also provided any food or refreshments, he alleged.