UP netas flood court with election petitions

After slugging it out in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, many of the candidates in Uttar Pradesh, who lost, have filed election petitions in the Allahabad high court and are getting ready for a prolonged legal battle.

Interestingly, leaders from all the three main political players - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) - have approached the court with petitions.

BJP candidate and film actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who lost to SP leader Azam Khan in Rampur LS constituency, has filed a petition in the Allahabad high court challenging Khan's election.

Among the various grounds cited by Jaya Prada for setting aside Khan's election was the SP leader's alleged attempt to incite communal passion to win the polls.

Another BJP candidate, Raghav Lakhanpal, who had lost to BSP's Haji Fazlur Rehman in Saharanpur LS seat, has also approached the high court with a petition challenging the latter's election on various grounds. One of the reasons cited by Lakhanpal was that BSP supremo Mayawati tried to ''communally polarise'' the elections.

BSP nominee from Meerut LS seat, Haji Yaqoob Ansari, who lost to BJP's Rajendra Agarwal by around five thousand votes, has also filed a petition in the high court challenging the latter's election on the ground of ''irregularities'' in the counting of votes.

Senior SP leader Dharmendra Yadav, who lost to BJP's Sanghamitra Maurya in Badaun LS constituency, has also filed a petition in the high court challenging her election.

Dharmendra, who is the cousin of SP president Akhilesh Yadav, has claimed in his petition that there were ''serious irregularities'' in the counting of votes. ''More number of votes were counted than polled,'' he alleged in his petition.

SP and BSP sources said that a few more election petitions were expected to be filed in the days to come.