Rampur bye-elections: Plea in Supreme Court alleges Police used every means to stop persons in Muslim dominated areas from voting

A practicing advocate moved the Supreme Court Wednesday claiming that during the bye-elections in the Rampur Assembly Constituency in Uttar Pradesh, police authorities used every means to prevent voters in Muslim dominated areas from exercising their franchise [Sulaiman Mohd. Khan v Election Commission of India]..The petitioner-in-person, Sulaiman Mohd Khan, mentioned the case before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud at 4 pm on Wednesday stating that an “extraordinary circumstance” had occurred during polling."The police authorities, who are protectors of the Constitution, have stopped thousands and thousands of voters from voting beating them black and blue. Broken heads,” Khan submitted..In this regard, he urged the Court to stay the counting of votes set to take place tomorrow and hear the case in detail.However, the bench refused to take any action today and asked Khan to mention the case again tomorrow morning.“Ultimately, all elections have to be given sanctity. You mention it tomorrow. Stalling counting of votes of a parliamentary election is a matter of..”, the CJI explained..According to the plea filed through Advocate Rohit Amit Sthalekar, the police, administration, returning officer and observers were acting as agents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).“By using every unconstitutional means to stop voters from Muslim dominated areas/ city area from voting as traditionally they vote against BJP”, the plea said..The petitioner in fact claimed that he was also stopped from voting, but he fought for his right and managed to cast his vote.He emphasized that the authorities had a responsibility to conduct a free and fair election. However, they made sure that all constitutional guarantees of voters were violated in broad daylight..According to Khan’s petition, this incident resulted in a historic low in total polling percentage which fell to 33.94 per cent which could be further analysed by scrutinizing polling booths in Muslim dominated city areas.Therefore, arguing that rights under Article 14, 19 and 21 were violated, it was prayed that the bye-election be declared null and void..[Read our live-coverage of the hearing below]

Rampur bye-elections: Plea in Supreme Court alleges Police used every means to stop persons in Muslim dominated areas from voting

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