NEW DELHI, 3 May 2004 — A two-member Election Commission team yesterday started an inquiry into complaints of vote rigging and intimidation against activists of the Rashtriya Janata Dal on April 26.
The poll, for the Chapra Lok Sabha seat, pitted RJD chief Laloo Yadav against Union Minister for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
The team consisting of K.J. Rao and Ananth Kumar met with the Chapra district magistrate and superintendent of police before private talks with aggrieved villagers.
While locals at Gangajal told the EC team the election had been peaceful, in Bharpura, some 5 km away, voters alleged that the district administration had attempted to rig the elections in Yadav’s favor.
In Sitaganj and Dumri a group of RJD supporters said BJP activists prevented them from voting and seized polling booths — a practice known as booth capturing.
The RJD chief met the EC team on their arrival at Patna Airport and offered to explain his position.
K.J. Rao told reporters the team would “go in depth” into all the complaints, including allegations against EC observers.
The commission had on April 29 ordered a detailed inquiry into the complaints of booth capturing in Chapra following appeals by the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
Campaigning ends today for the third phase of voting on May 5 in 83 Lok Sabha constituencies.
With exit polls suggesting a hung Parliament, all parties have intensified their campaign efforts. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee again arrived in his constituency yesterday. He is to address several election meetings in Lucknow. This is Vajpayee’s second round of electioneering in his constituency since he filed his nomination on April 15. On April 27, Vajpayee addressed election meetings at Bakshi-ka-Talab and Kapoorthala in the city.
The prime minister is one of 32 candidates contesting Lucknow, with his main challengers including his former Cabinet colleague the renowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who is running as an independent supported by Congress.
May 5 polling in Uttar Pradesh will also decide the political fortunes of Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi (BJP, Allahabad), Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri) and his son, Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj) and film star turned SP leader Raj Babbar (Agra).
More than 107 million people are eligible to vote in the third phase.
A record 432 candidates are contesting 30 seats from Uttar Pradesh. The state also has the highest number of women candidates (28) contesting in the third phase. As many as 108,583 polling stations are being set up for the upcoming round, the biggest number in Uttar Pradesh.
Vajpayee’s Lucknow constituency is among 14 sensitive Lok Sabha seats where polling in the next two phases will be recorded on video by the Election Commission to prevent booth capturing or vote rigging.
The constituencies are Lucknow, Allahabad, Banda, Etah, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Sambhal, Hathras, Baghpat, Ferozabad, Sitapur, Meerut, Bulandshahar and Badaun.
Meanwhile, under attack from secular parties and constantly wooed by rival camps, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday made it clear he wanted to unite the secular parties on one platform against the BJP.
