SP Workers Allegedly Burn CEC Effigy in Kanpur Dehat Protest; ADM Denies

The Samajwadi Party staged a protest against the Election Commission in Kanpur Dehat, with a large number of its leaders and workers marching from the party’s district office in Mati towards the district headquarters. The protest was part of the party’s announced programme against the Election Commission and its officials.

The party had earlier announced that it would hold a protest on 4 October and burn an effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The protesters raised slogans as they moved towards the district headquarters.

The demonstration reached Gate Number 2 of the Collectorate at the Mati headquarters. According to the report on the protest, Samajwadi Party workers set fire to an effigy of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar there and registered their opposition over the election process.

The police and administration had made security arrangements to prevent the effigy-burning. During the protest, a verbal altercation also took place between the police and Samajwadi Party workers. Despite the presence of the police, the party workers went ahead with the effigy-burning, the report said.

However, ADM Administration Amit Kumar gave a different account of the incident. He said the Samajwadi Party workers had informed the administration about the protest one day earlier. According to Amit Kumar, hundreds of workers took part in the demonstration. He said the protesters had tried to burn the effigies, but “एक भी पुतले का दहन नहीं कर पाए”, they could not burn even one effigy.

The protest was held amid the party’s objections to the election process and the functioning of the Election Commission. Samajwadi Party workers raised questions over these issues and expressed their opposition during the demonstration.

The party’s protest in Kanpur Dehat is being viewed as a display of its political stance ahead of the upcoming assembly election. The large presence of Samajwadi Party leaders and workers at the Mati headquarters also increased political activity in the district.

The report was filed by Vivek Trivedi from Kanpur Dehat.