UP Civic Polls 2017: Police Lathicharge in Deoria

Another lathicharge was reported from Muzaffarnagar.

Photo for representational purpose.

(Photo: Twitter)

Few media persons and a BJP worker was injured after Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday lathicharged outside the counting centre in Deoria during the UP Civic Polls.

The altercation allegedly started between the police and few people working at the polling booth, but it soon spread to the media gallery, Hindi daily Hindustan reported.

Earlier, four people were also injured after Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday lathicharged the crowd gathered outside the counting centre in Muzaffarnagar.

Following the altercation, the crowd reportedly protested against the police at the DAV Inter College in Muzaffarnagar, News Nation reported.

Counting began on Friday for the Uttar Pradesh civic polls. Around 3.32 crore people in urban Uttar Pradesh are estimated to have voted in the three-phase polls for 16 nagar nigams, 71 nagar palika parishads, and 154 nagar panchayats that were held from 22 November.

The ruling BJP forged ahead of its rivals, leading on 14 of the 16 mayoral seats in Uttar Pradesh, including the prestigious Ayodhya and Varanasi. In Ayodhya, BJP's Rishikesh Upadhyay secured 44,642 votes. The Adityanath government had decided to constitute municipal corporations for Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan during its initial days in power.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, BJP candidate Mridula Jaiswal defeated her Congress rival Shalini by a comfortable margin of 78,843 votes.

A major blow was dealt to the Congress, particularly Rahul Gandhi, as reports from the UP civic polls confirmed a massive win for the BJP in Amethi, a traditional Congress bastion. UP CM Yogi Adityanath says "historic win" in civic polls because of PM Narendra Modi's vision and BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance.

He added that Congress is “wiped out" from Amethi and “BJP will now look forward to achieve the goal of 100 percent success in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.”

However, in Muzaffarnagar, Congress candidate Anju Agarwal won the mayor's position, Firstpost reported.

(With inputs from Hindustan, News Nation and Firstpost.)

(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to [e-mail] or WhatsApp @ [phone])