Farmers Movement Archive

At a joint panchayat, SP and RLD allege zila panchayat members being framed

: The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) convened a joint panchayat at the SP office in Baghpat on Wednesday over their workers being named in alleged ‘fake cases’. They demanded withdrawal of ‘fake cases’ registered against some zila panchayat members and their family and alleged they were being registered on their workers and zila panchayat members to pressurise them to vote in support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in zila panchayat presidents’ election on July 3. At the over three-hour long panchayat, they warned officials of serious consequences if this continued. RLD general secretaries Rajendra Sharma, Dr Marijuddin Ahmad, former MLA Veerpal Rathi, party’s Baghpat president, Jagpal Singh Teotia, SP’s district president Manoj Choudhary, Khap Thambedar Brijpal Singh and Deshkhap Choudhary Surendra Singh who attended the panchayat later handed over a memorandum to the officials, accusing them of working at the behest of the ruling BJP. “Officials have assured of fair investigation in all the cases registered against zila panchayat members,” Dr Mairajuddin said. RLD leader Kuldeep Ujjwal said that panchayat has warned officials against framing their party members. Baghpat has 20 zila panchayat members. A candidate requires support of 11 members to ensure victory. The district is a reserved seat for dalit woman. In panchayat elections RLD backed candidates won 8 seats, SP backed candidates won 4 while independent candidates bagged 4 seats. BJP won 4 seats but later a SP zila panchayat member defected to the BJP and was declared BJP candidate. RLD and SP are fighting together, and their leaders claim support of 14 members, including 3 independents. The RLD and SP leaders claimed that four cases were registered against SP’s elected zila panchayat member Mehmoob Alvi and his family members after Alvi’s win on May 2. His brother and two sons were taken into custody for interrogation on June 20 after a case under SC/ST was registered against them on June 19. They pointed out case of another zila panchayat member, Shahida, who was backed by RLD and won. ‘Her sons were accused of being involved in a firing incident in the village,” the leaders said. “We had given memorandum to IG (Meerut zone) Praveen Kumar who has directed district officials to be fair in their action, but nothing happened,” said RLD secretary Kuldeep Ujjwal who was present at the panchayat.

Hindustan Times

23-06-2021

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