Lucknow: FIR Against 2,500 Samajwadi Party Workers For Flouting COVID Norms At 'Virtual' Rally

The Lucknow Police on Friday booked around 2,500 Samajwadi Party workers for allegedly violating the model code of conduct and Covid-19 protocol during a virtual rally, reported ANI. The First Information Report was registered against them at the Gautampali police station, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Aparna Rajat Kaushik.

Why such a huge rally

But, why if the rally was virtual? Hundreds of supporters had turned up at the party office at Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow to attend a ¡°virtual rally¡¯¡± addressed by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and former Cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya.

PTI

The latter¡¯s exit from the Bharatiya Janata Party has triggered an exodus. Maurya along with former minister Dharam Singh Saini and five MLAs joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday.

Akhilesh Yadav was basically inducting rebel ministers and BJP MLAs into the party during the 'virtual rally'. Addressing party workers at the SP office during the rally, Akhilesh Yadav said, "Wickets are falling in the BJP and Baba [Yogi Adityanath] does not know how to play cricket and now he has dropped a catch."

The FIR was registered at the police station against nearly 2,500 unknown Samajwadi Party activists for violation of Covid norms at the party¡¯s office, Lucknow Police Commissioner D K Thakur said.

Charges against workers

On the complaint of Sub Inspector, Gautam Palli police station, Ajay Kumar Singh, the case was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 188 (violation of instructions), 269 (spreading infection of disease), 270 (endangering the life of others by spreading infection) and 341 (wrongful restraint of a person).

PTI

The FIR also has charges mentioned under the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act. The sub-inspector has alleged in his complaint that 2,000 to 2,500 SP workers blocked the road by parking vehicles haphazardly around the party¡¯s headquarters and illegally organised the gathering, Thakur said.

Thakur told India Today that the FIR was filed after they procured video evidence of the gathering. ¡°We received information on social media about crowds gathering outside the SP office and sent police personnel to clear the crowds,¡± he added.

¡°Videography was done, whoever is marked in the video will also be booked,¡± the police said.

However, Samajwadi Party's Uttar Pradesh unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel said, "It was a virtual event inside our party office. We didn't call anyone but people came. People work abiding by Covid protocols."

" Crowds were there even at BJP ministers' doorsteps and in markets, but they have a problem with us," Patel added.

EC had banned political rallies till Jan 15

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India directed that Dinesh Singh Bisht, the station house officer of Gautampalli police station, be suspended for dereliction of duty, reported The Indian Express.

BCCL

The commission also said that Additional Commissioner of Police Akhilesh Singh and Returning Officer of the Lucknow Central Assembly Govind Maurya need to submit an explanation on Saturday. The Election Commission has banned political rallies, gatherings, meetings and road shows in five poll-bound states till January 15 amid a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

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