Large-scale violence was reported during the filing of nominations for political chiefs of blocks in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday with the Samajwadi Party alleging that BJP goons had kidnapped and assaulted many of its candidates and supporters.

The Samajwadi Party had earlier this year won the elections to the block development councils, part of the panchayati raj system, by bagging 50 per cent of the seats. The BJP had won 30 per cent of the seats. These elected council members will now elect the block pramukhs, for which nominations are being filed. There are 822 blocks in Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party alleged that the BJP was trying to vitiate the atmosphere by resorting to violence after tasting defeat.

Naresh Uttam Patel, the state Samajwadi chief, said: “Violence took place in Kannauj, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar and many other places. BJP goons kidnapped our candidates, thrashed them, snatched their nomination papers and even opened fire in the presence of police to terrorise our party workers and contestants.”

Mata Prasad Pandey, who had been Vidhan Sabha Speaker during Samajwadi rule, said: “BJP goons snatched from me the nomination paper of my party’s candidate in Siddharthnagar. Many of our workers have suffered injuries in Gorakhpur, Unnao, Sambhal, Gonda, Bulandshahr and Mainpuri.”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that democracy was being “ripped off” in the state.

Sharing a video of the violence on Twitter, Priyanka wrote in Hindi: “PM sahab and CM sahab should also congratulate on how their workers in UP indulged in stone-pelting and firing, looted nomination papers, beat up journalists and misbehaved with women. By blind-folding the law-and-order system, democracy is being ripped off.”

Ajay Kumar Lallu, the Uttar Pradesh Congress president, said: “The BJP’s nakedness was seen today by the entire state. We have received video footage from across the state showing BJP-backed criminals, with the help of the police, attacking rival candidates.”

“This is only a glimpse of what they will do during the 2022 Assembly elections. The voters should be ready for a struggle to save democracy, which is at stake under the BJP,” Lallu added.

The BJP denied the allegations of assault and kidnapping.

Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said: “It is the Samajwadi Party that belongs to goons. The entire state used to feel insecure when Akhilesh Yadav was chief minister. They are not being able to accept their defeat in the recent elections for zilla panchayat chiefs and are trying to bully us.”

Sitapur district magistrate Vishal Bharadwaj said people opened fire during the filing of nominations for the head of the Kasmanda block. A person suffered injuries and has been referred to Lucknow for treatment, he said without revealing the identity of the individual. Four persons have been arrested, the DM said.

Former Samajwadi MLA Mahendra Singh said his party’s candidate was prevented by the police from filing his nomination in the Rampur Mathura block “at the behest of the BJP government in the state”.

In Kannauj block, Samajwadi candidate Ajay Dohre and his proposer were allegedly manhandled. At Talgram and Gugrapur, Samajwadi

and BJP workers and supporters got involved in an altercation.

At Saurikh, local journalist Nitya Mishra was attacked. He suffered injuries and his camera got damaged, the police said.

Samajwadi MLC Rajpal Kashyap said: “The BJP is using the government machinery in favour of its candidates and harassing rivals with the help of the police.”