The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it has submitted a memorandum to the chief electoral officer in Uttar Pradesh, seeking the release of security camera footage and video recordings from polling booths in seven Assembly constituencies where bye-elections were held last month.

In a statement, the party said it sought access to video footage from the constituencies of Katehari, Kundarki, Phulpur, Majhawan, Meerapur, Khair and Ghaziabad.

In the November 13 bye-polls, the Samajwadi Party lost all seven of these seats. The party won the Sishamu and Karhal constituencies, according to the results declared on November 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won six seats while its ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal, bagged one.

The memorandum submitted by the Samajwadi Party came days after the BJP-led Union government amended the 1961 Conduct of Elections Rules, restricting public access to poll-related documents on December 20, as first reported by Scroll.

Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules said that “all other papers relating to the election shall be open to public inspection”.

The amended rule said: “All other papers as specified in these rules relating to the election shall be open to public inspection.”

With this change – notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice in consultation with the Election Commission – not all poll-related documents, including security camera and webcasting footage as well as video recordings of candidates, can be inspected by the public.

Only those documents specified in the Conduct of Election Rules can be inspected by the public.

On Tuesday, the Congress said it had challenged the amendment in the Supreme Court.