Uttarakhand bypoll: Former CM Harish Rawat, Cong members detained after violence in Manglaur seat

Haridwar (Uttarakhand) [India], July 11 (ANI): Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat, along with other Congress members, was detained and taken to a police station following the violence in the Manglaur assembly seat in Haridwar district on June 10.

As per reports, Harish Rawat was detained by police while attempting to visit a polling booth in Libberheri after being accused of disrupting the democratic process.

This comes after violence erupted in the Manglaur assembly seat on Wednesday as Uttarakhand went to polls in two constituencies, Badrinath and Manglaur.

The violent altercation broke out in Libberheri village, within the Roorkee region, just hours into the voting process. The confrontation resulted in injuries to multiple Congress workers.

Earlier on Wednesday, speaking to ANI about the violence, Harish Rawat said, “We feared this. We were constantly urging the administration to ensure the smooth conduct of these elections. Whatever happened in Libbarheri is unprecedented and it will forever be a blot on the history of Uttarakhand.”

“We never thought voters would be intimidated. There was no one to take the injured to the hospital. This is a conspiracy by the ruling party. An atmosphere of fear is being created. I want to urge everyone to come together to defeat such conspiracies,” he said.

Taking a shot at the ruling BJP for the Manglaur violence, Harish Rawat said, “The way the BJP is trying to capture the votes (bypolls), to agitate against it, we have come here. Police were taking Congress agents out of the booths and trying to intimidate voters. A BJP minister is behind this. Save democracy, save Uttarakhand. They are crushing the hopes of voters. I condemn this action of the BJP.”

“Democracy is being hijacked in Mangalore, the police are missing, and the administration is silent. The injured are not even being taken to the hospital. We will protest against this kind of situation and run a campaign to save democracy,” posted Harish Rawat on his handle on X.

Polling for the Assembly by-polls has started for 13 Assembly constituencies across seven states including Uttarakhand.

Assembly by-polls were held in West Bengal’s Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Rupauli in Bihar; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.

As of 3 pm, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara at 66.58 per cent while the lowest was recorded in Uttarakhand’s Badrinath at 40.50 per cent in the by-elections.

Uttarakhand’s Manglaur recorded 56.21 per cent as of 3 pm.

From Uttarakhand, Rajendra Singh Bhandari from Badrinath and Kartar Singh Bhadana from Manglaur were fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Manglaur assembly seat in Haridwar district, which fell vacant following the demise of BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari, witnessed an intense electoral battle between the BJP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana, Congress’ Qazi Nizamuddin, and BSP’s Ubedur Rahman.

The by-polls for the Badrinath assembly seat is held due to the resignation of Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari.

Bhandari contested from the BJP, while senior Congress leader Lakhpat Butola was fighting against him. Naval Khali, an independent candidate, and Himmat Singh from the Sainik Samaj Party were also in the fray.

According to officials, 210 polling stations were set up in the Badrinath assembly constituency and 132 in the Manglaur assembly constituency.