As parts of western Uttar Pradesh goes to polls on April 10 all eyes are set on the sensitive lok Sabha seat of Muzaffarnagar, which recently witnessed the riots that claimed over 60 lives and rendered over 40,000 homeless.
The post-riot impact is making the whole situation unpredictable in this Uttar Pradesh district. And more is the fate of over 4,000 refugees who are still residing in the camps. Hukum Singh BJP’s candidate from Kairana, where these refugee camps lies, has questioned residence proof of these people.
"We will oppose if these people are allowed to cast votes," Singh told The Pioneer on Sunday. "We have written a letter to Election Commission asking it not to allow displaced people to cast their votes because they do not have voter’s card," he said.
Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said that those people who will surrender their old EPIC and get new made on the basis of new address would be allowed to use their right of franchise.It is believed that riots have polarised voters on the religious lines and its impact is most visible in
Muzaffarnagar. An estimated 15.5 lakh voters of 479 villages and towns would cast their vote for this parliamentary constituency on Muzaffarnagar. Of the total voters, nearby 2.54 lakh voters are of the Muzaffarnagar city, while the remaining voters belong to Budhana, Charthaval,Khatauli and Sardhana --all affected in the recent riots.
Around 3.10 lakh voters fall under Muzaffarnagar assembly segment, while 3.40 lakh voters are of Budhana assembly segment. Similarly, 2.95 lakh voters are of Charthaval assembly segment. Both Budhana and Charthaval assembly areas have 110 villages each.
In Khatuli, 2.83 lakh voters would exercise their franchise and covers a total of 114 villages. In Sardhana, an estimated 3.19 lakh voters of 132 villages would exercise their franchise.As many as 30 candidates have filed their nomination for election at this parliamentary constituency. The prominent candidates include Sanjiv Baliyan of BJP, Virendra Singh of SP, Kadir Rana of BSP and Pankaj Agarwal of RlD-Congress alliance.
The Muzaffarnagar lok Sabha seat will go to polls in the first phase on April 10, while the results will be declared on May 16.
