Residents of Tara Jivanpur village in Chandauli parliamentary constituency on Sunday asked the police to lodge a first information report against Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and party state president Mahendra Nath Pandey for allegedly indulging in electoral malpractices, reported News18. Chandauli is one of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh that went to polls during the last phase of voting on Sunday.

Villagers alleged that BJP workers distributed Rs 500 among the residents, applied the indelible ink on their index fingers and asked them not to cast their votes. One Virendra Kumar named three people from the BJP – Dimple Tiwari, Chote Tiwari and Katwaru Tiwari – who were allegedly giving money to the voters.

“Around 11 pm, we received information that former village pradhan in Tara Jivanpur village was distributing money to the people and was applying indelible ink on their fingers,” SDM Kumar Harsh told News18. “They were also allegedly asked not to vote. All the people who were distributed money are at the police station and they are not giving a written complaint. An FIR will be lodged based upon that and action will be taken.”

Tara Jivanpur has a sizeable Dalit population. The allegations come after the Samajwadi Party claimed that BJP workers were stopping Dalit and other backward people from voting.