UP: Samajwadi Party Candidate Booked for Spreading Hatred and Threatening District Election officer

Ballia: Police have booked Sanatan Pandey, the Samajwadi Party's candidate from the Ballia Lok Sabha constituency, for allegedly spreading enmity and threatening the district election officer, officials said on Sunday as PTI reported.

District officials said an FIR was lodged against Pandey over his statement to reporters on Saturday.

Reacting to the FIR, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked if the Election Commission will take action against those who make comments on the Constitution, "Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb" and brotherhood from "big stages".

During the interaction with reporters, Pandey can be heard saying that he had been winning the election last time but the administration cost him his victory.

"I accepted my defeat last time because I didn't want to challenge the Election Commission," he told the reporters.

"During the last elections, I was attacked outside the counting centre and my vehicle was damaged by people on the side of the government," he alleged.

Pandey also said that he would not allow anything similar to happen this time.

"I have taken an oath this time. If the people of Ballia want to defeat me, I will accept it. But if the people of Ballia want to make me the victor, then the local administration or the BJP will not be able to stop me from getting my winning certificate," he further said.

"If they do so, either my body or the collector's body will come out...," Pandey said.

A clip of the statement has become widely circulated on social media.

Superintendent of Police Dev Ranjan Verma said an FIR has been lodged against Pandey under sections 171 F (exercising undue influence in elections), 189 (threatening a public servant), 186 (obstructing a public servant in public work), 505 (2) (spreading hatred and animosity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Representation of the People Act on the basis of a complaint filed by Sub Inspector Makhan Singh in Ballia city.

He said Pandey, while commenting on the tenure and works of the current dispensation on Saturday, was accused of spreading enmity, hatred and animosity among different sections of society and threatening the district election officer.

Samajwadi Party chief Yadav, when asked about the FIR, said registering a case against Pandey is natural based on the remarks he made.

Pandey could have expressed his feelings in some other way, he said in Moradabad.

"Cases should also be registered against those who, from big stages, are making comments on the country's Constitution, the 'Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb' and brotherhood. Will the Election Commission take action against them?" Yadav asked.

"We witnessed in the last polls that in Saharanpur, Bijnor and (neighbouring) Rampur, the administration snatched votes by deploying the police. If he (Pandey) said this, then he must have some suspicion because he had lost by a very ordinary margin last time (2019 Lok Sabha elections)," he added.

Pandey contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2019, losing to the BJP's Virendra Singh Mast by 16,000 votes.

This time, he is pitted against former Ballia MP Neeraj Shekhar of the BJP.

Ballia will go to the polls in the last phase on June 1.