Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday demanded the suspension of the station house officer (SHO) of Kakarouli police station located in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirapur, accusing him of threatening voters with force and a revolver and preventing them from voting in the by-elections in the populated state.

The Muzaffarnagar police, however, rejected the allegations made by Akhilesh Yadav and issued a clarification stating that the police action in Mirapur area was in response to a dispute between two groups.

Sharing a video of the alleged incident, Akhilesh Yadav asked the Election Commission (EC) to immediately suspend the policeman for obstructing the voting process.

“The Election Commission should immediately suspend the SHO of Kakarwali police station in Mirapur as he is preventing voters from casting their votes by threatening them with a revolver,” the former chief minister wrote on X in the video clip of the incident.

The purported video shared by the Samajwadi Party chief showed a police officer, clad in body armor and a helmet, pointing his service weapon at some voters in Mirapur.

The women can’t be heard confronting the policeman, asking him why they can’t go vote. However, the policeman, accompanied by many other police officials, forced them to return to their homes.

Police said stones were pelted at officers who reached the location after receiving information about a dispute between two groups.

“On receiving information about a dispute between two groups in Mirapur during UP polls, a police team from Kakarwali police station was dispatched. On reaching the location, the residents threw stones at the police team. Police used light force to disperse the crowd. hooligans,” said the police statement.

“Kakarwali police station SHO Rajeev Sharma, who was present at the spot, took action to maintain law and order in the region. No one was threatened during this time. Action will be taken against all those who pelted stones at the police “, he added.

Polling for the by-elections in nine Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh gained momentum after a slow start, with voter turnout reaching around 42 per cent by 3 pm on Wednesday.

The voting process started at 7 am in Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki constituencies and ended at 5 pm.

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission suspended about 4 police officers after the Samajwadi Party accused them of violating poll guidelines on voter verification and stopped them from voting in by-polls.

The opposition party in Uttar Pradesh alleged that in some places police personnel were checking people’s identity documents and discouraging them from voting.

According to officials, four policemen on polling duty have been suspended in Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar. In Moradabad, an unknown number of personnel on duty were diverted.