The puzzle of BSP votes: Mainpuri incident sheds some light

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) Did all the Dalit votes of Mayawati get transferred to Akhilesh Yadav's party in Uttar Pradesh? The crucial question has been answered in a letter written by UP State SC/ST Commission.

On Monday evening, the Chairman of the commission, Brij Lal, instructed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mainpuri to register a criminal case against Yadav supporters of Mulayam Singh Yadav who allegedly opened fire and brutally assaulted members of the dalit community for not voting in favour of Samajwadi Party despite an electoral alliance.

The injured includes a woman and a BSF jawan of dalit community.

In his letter to the SSP, the Chairman of the Commission has expressed his anguish over the shocking incident which happened weeks after voting in Mainpuri on April 23.

The Yadavs of the Nagla Mandhata area came to know much later that dalits of their village have not voted in favour of SP-BSP candidate Mulayam Singh Yadav. For the first time, Mayawati had personally held a joint rally with Mulayam in Mainpuri and had urged supporters of the Bahujan Samaj Party to openly vote for the alliance.

Over the non-transfer of votes, when the arguement between the local village Dalits and the Yadavs took a turn for the worse, the accused opened fire and beat up the Dalits with sticks. The BSF jawan, belonging to the Dalit community, managed to escape from the spot and later filed a complaint.

The SC/ST commission has asked the SSP to visit the spot and ensure that dalit members of the village are provided adequate security. The SSP has also been instructed that the accused should be arrested.

Though Mulsyam Singh Yadav has won the polls by a comfortable margin, the vote transfer issue was being widely discussed in the town. People were heard saying that dalit members of certain pockets did not vote for the SP-BSP alliance.