UP polls: Sardhana BJP MLA booked for slapping poll officer

Uttar Pradesh police have filed a case against BJP’s Sardhana MLA Sangeet Som for allegedly assaulting the presiding officer at a polling booth when first phase voting for the Assembly elections were underway on Thursday.

Police said, on February 10, Som and his supporters on reaching the Booth 131 in Salawa village of Meerut district at around 3 pm had got upset over the long tine of voters there and stormed into the booth to demand an answer from the presiding officer for the slow pace of voting. It was then that Som had allegedly slapped the presiding officer, police said. According to police, his supporters had also taken away the CCTV cameras installed inside the poll booth.

Som, a two-time MLA, is seeking a third term from the Sardhana constituency.

According to Hindustan Times, Som showed up at the booth after reportedly receiving complaints from some villagers that the presiding officer was not allowing women to cast their votes without showing their faces.

Police said they filed the FIR after Ashwini Sharma, the assaulted poll in-charge didn’t lodge a complaint against the legislator.

“We waited for the presiding officer, Ashwini Sharma, to file a complaint for nearly 10 hours on Thursday, but he did not turn up, following which the FIR was registered against the legislator by the in charge of the Sardhana police station, Lakshman Verma. We are investigating the case and action will be taken after completion of our inquiry,” Meerut Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary told the media on Saturday.

He said while police have sent a copy of the FIR to the Election Commission, they have urged the presiding officer to record his statement to add weight to the case.

Som so far has eight cases against him. Also an accused in the 2013 Muzzafarnagar riots case, he was acquitted last year. He was accused of uploading an incendiary video on social media before the riots.