All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged on February 3 that shots were fired at his vehicle as he was leaving for Delhi after attending a poll event in Kithaur in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district.
Owaisi said three to four persons were present at the spot but the shots were fired by two persons.
“I was leaving for Delhi after a poll event in Kithaur, Meerut (UP), when three to four rounds of bullets were fired upon my vehicle by two people near Chhajarsi toll plaza; there were a total of three to four people. The tyres of my vehicle were punctured in the incident. I left in another vehicle,” the Hyderabad MP told news agency ANI. "We are all safe. Alhamdu'lilah."
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The AIMIM chief has requested the Election Commission to launch an independent probe into the incident. He took to Twitter and wrote: “I request the Election Commission to order an independent inquiry into this shooting incident. It is the responsibility of the UP govt and Modi govt to conduct an independent inquiry. I will also meet the Lok Sabha Speaker on this matter.”
Deepak Bhuker, SP, Hapur, has informed that one person has been apprehended and he is being questioned at the moment. A weapon has been recovered from him, but his accomplice has managed to flee. A search operation is underway for him; police are checking the CCTV footage.
Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in seven phases, starting February 10.
According to poll reforms advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 25 percent of candidates in the fray for the first phase of the assembly elections have criminal cases against them, including 12 who are accused of crimes against women and six face murder charges.
ADR said it analysed self-sworn affidavits of 615 candidates across political parties and independent nominees from the 58 assembly seats in 11 districts of the state which will vote on February 10.
There are 623 candidates in the fray but affidavits of eight could not be analysed because they were either badly scanned or incomplete, ADR said.
"Out of 615 candidates analysed, 156 (25 percent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while 121 (20 percent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves," it said.
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