Violence in UP's gram pradhan polls, one killed

A candidate was killed and over a dozen people injured as violence marred the 'gram pradhan' polls in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

Avdhesh, a candidate for gram pradhan (village head) in Shamshabad area of Agra, was shot dead following a clash over allegations of booth capturing and bogus voting, officials said.

In Etah, at Bhadoni village in Soron area, supporters of candidates opened fire on each other, leaving eight injured.

"Condition of the four injured is stated to be critical and they have been admitted to a nearby medical facility," an official told IANS.

In Etah, violence was reported from the Rampur region where some people who tried to intervene in a booth capturing attempt were beaten up and fired upon.

Failing to cast bogus votes, some unidentified people set a polling booth on fire, forcing police to resort to a cane charge to disperse the irate mob.

In Belhua development block in Sant Kabeernagar, two factions fought a pitched battle in Mathia village while violence was also reported from Muradipur in Malwa block in Fatehpur.

There were also reports of violence from Mainpuri, Hardoi and Barabanki.

Police officials said a detailed report has been sent to the state election commission about the violence in some areas.

In the first phase of polling, voting was held in 15,646 'gram panchayats' across 221 blocks of the state.

On an average, there are seven candidates for every gram pradhan post. A total of 1,26,161 candidates are trying their luck in these elections. In the first phase, there are 44.5 percent women candidates.