The bypolls in Uttar Pradesh saw a fierce political faceoff between the ruling BJP and the main opposition Samajwadi Party during the ongoing polling in nine assembly seats.

While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the UP police for threatening the voters in a bid to stop them from voting, the BJP claimed that the SP workers are engaged in hooliganism and bogus voting with women and men donning burqa.

Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that voters in Meerapur were stopped from voting by the SHO in the Kakrauli police station area. "Election Commission should immediately suspend SHO of Kakarwali police station area of ​​Meerapur because he is stopping voters from casting their votes by threatening them with a revolver," Akhilesh said in a post on X. 

Yadav said his party had lodged complaints with the Election Commission (EC) regarding irregularities in multiple constituencies, including Karhal, Sisamau, Meerapur, Kundarki, Phulpur, and Majhawan.

The SP chief also slammed the BJP over violation of the EC's guidelines on checking voter IDs and for obstructing people from casting their ballots. 

The Election Commission has taken action against 10 policemen and ordered the suspension of two police personnel for violating its guidelines.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Dalit woman's body found in a sack in Karhal constituency this morning sparked a political storm after the victim's family alleged that a local Samajwadi Party worker had been pressuring her against voting for BJP in the bypolls being held today. 

The BJP has launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party over the woman's death. 

"At Karhal in Mainpuri district, Samajwadi Party's Prashant Yadav and his aides brutally murdered a Dalit daughter only because she refused to vote for 'cycle'," state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said in a post on X.

Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary also accused Samajwadi Party workers of engaging in hooliganism during the by-elections. He claimed that SP supporters were attempting to influence the polls by bringing in outsiders and anti-social elements, alleging that women wearing burqas were participating in bogus voting.