Samajwadi worker's sari yanked by political rivals

New Delhi: A disturbing video emerged on Thursday, in which a Samajwadi Party worker is being manhandled and her sari is yanked by two men from a rival party as nominations were filed for local polls in Uttar Pradesh, as per an NDTV report.

The woman was a proposer for a Samajwadi Party candidate in block panchayat polls and was trying to enter a nomination centre when she was attacked by rival party men. They also snatched the candidate's nomination papers to stop her from filing them in time; the police said the men were trying to ensure their candidate would be elected unopposed.

Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the attackers were BJP workers and, sharing the video in a tweet, called them "power hungry goons of Yogi Adityanath (Chief Minister)".

The incident took place at Lakhimpur Kheri, around 130 km from Lucknow. Clashes were reported from more than a dozen places as nominations were filled for voting on Saturday for 825 block pramukhs or local panchayat heads.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also posted a video of the violence along with a comment targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. "PM and CM, please congratulate your workers in UP who resorted to bombs, stones and bullets, who snatched nomination papers, beat up journalists and misbehaved with women. Law and order is blindfolded and democracy is being disrobed," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, referencing the Mahabharata.