ThePrint ·
Politics
Rajasthan civic polls: BJP, Congress workers clash during re-polling in Kota; one injured
Kota, Sep 16 (PTI) A clash erupted between BJP and Congress workers at Ward No. 87 during re-polling for the Kota Municipal Corporation on Wednesday, police said.
One Congress worker allegedly sustained injuries in the clash that broke out at Booth No. 99, where a direct contest between BJP’s Pushpa Choudhary and Congress’ Lakshmi Sharma quickly escalated into a physical altercation with rival factions trading kicks and punches.
Though police and poll officials intervened to restore order, the incident led to both sides levelling charges against each other.
BJP MLA from Kota South, Sandeep Sharma, claimed that Congress workers staged blockades near the polling booth out of fear of losing and to suppress the large voter turnout in favour of his party.
The BJP workers showed restraint even as they protested against the blockades during which scuffles broke out, Sharma said.
In a contrasting account, district Mahila Congress president Shalini Gautam claimed the party workers were peacefully appealing to people to vote when MLA Sharma arrived at the scene with hundreds of BJP workers.
The BJP workers violated the poll code, blocked people’s movement and attacked the Congress workers with lathis in a pre-planned conspiracy to intimidate voters and halt polling, Gautam alleged.
She claimed a Congress worker had to be hospitalised while a former female candidate was struck twice with a stick.
According to Congress’ Kota unit chief Rakhi Gautam, the re-polling being held in itself reflected the government’s failure, while the violence was a fallout of BJP’s frustration.
She maintained that the Congress workers stood firm against the BJP’s efforts to intimidate them, claiming that even local journalists were mistreated during the commotion.
The re-polling at Booth 99, along with Booth 448 in Ward 44, Booth 576 in Ward 11, and Booth 5 in Ward 4 of Suket Municipality, was ordered after EVM glitches were reported during counting of votes for the Rajasthan urban local body elections on September 14. PTI COR SMV SMV ARI ARI
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.