‘Lathis, threats and gunshots’: How BJP wrested a narrow victory in UP

On May 13, when polling took place in Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party alleged bogus votes were being cast in Khiri Pamaran village.

The election officials dismissed the complaint, until a video surfaced six days later showing the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary casting eight votes in favour of the party. The youngster was booked by the police, and the chief electoral officer ordered repolling in the village.

But this was not the only instance of electoral manipulation that the Samajwadi Party had alleged and the election officials had ignored in the constituency.

Last week, as election results rolled in, these complaints acquired fresh significance: the BJP won Farrukhabad with a razor-thin margin of 2,678 votes. Over 10 lakh votes were cast in the constituency.

Would the result have been different had the complaints been taken seriously?

Scroll went to the constituency to find out.

Three weeks after polling, scores of voters still recalled vividly how they had been intimidated and stopped from voting by BJP workers, chased away from polling booths or beaten up after they had voted.

Most of them were Shakya and Yadav voters, who said they had planned to vote for the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party.

Ashok Yadav, a 40-year-old farmer from Parsupur village, recalled being bullied by Thakurs from Mangadpur...

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