Muzaffarnagar riots accused MLA: Won't allow refugees to vote

Stoking controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha candidate and one of the members of Legislative Assembly booked in Muzaffarnagar riots cases Hukum Singh said on Thursday he would oppose riot refugees from voting in his constituency Kairana as they were living "illegally" on government land.

Singh said in Muzaffarnagar that he would not allow "so-called" refugees to be enrolled in the voter list of his constituency Kairana in Shamli district as they were living away from their homes and had encroached upon government land by camping.

"Their names have not been removed from the voter list  of their native places," he said, adding, he will not visit any of the riot refugee camps in Kairana for campaign as those staying in them were not voters in the constituency.

More than 7,000 refugees are staying in nine refugee camps in Kairana. These camps are situated in Malakpur, Khurgan, Barnawi, Dabheri, Khurd, Mansoora, Roten, Tisang, Amtikhurd areas of the city.

Singh also reacted sharply to the comment made by former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar who on Wednesday termed as "shameful" the act of political parties giving Lok Sabha tickets to Muzaffarnagar riots accused.

The Kairana MLA claimed the remark was "wrong and baseless as there had been no chargesheet filed in court against him in connection with the riots case so far".

Singh, an MLA from Kairana, will be contesting for the Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency on BJP ticket. He was among the 16 politicians and community leaders, who were accused of inciting violence through inflammatory speeches in Muzaffarnagar and had been briefly under arrest.

More than 60 persons were killed and over 40,000 displaced in riots that had taken place in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in September last year.

Image: A victim of the riots being rushed to the hospital last September