New Delhi, November 11
In a major jolt to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Election Commission today countermanded the October 13 byelection in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency and ordered fresh poll on December 20.
EC spokesperson A.N. Jha said the byelection was being countermanded in view of largescale rigging, booth capturing and intimidation of voters.
Mr Jha said there would be no change in the names of the candidates and there would be no fresh notification.
The commission, in its order, said the findings of its inquiry teams “reveal a shocking state of affairs, where, in more than 70 per cent of the polling stations the polling personnel either connived or were overawed by one party or the other to rig the poll in their favour”.
The strongly-worded EC order said the inquiry report also brought out the “complete bias” on the part of the police and district administration in handling the poll.
“Intimidation of voters and a free reign to persons to indulge in booth capturing was apparent from the records,” it said, adding that it corroborated and established the complaints made to the EC about a free-for-all atmosphere at the booths where “miscreants” had a field day.
