Samajwadi Party’s Pradip Yadav engaged in a heated exchange with UP police over COVID-19 protocols on Wednesday. In a video posted on social media, the candidate from Deoria’s Rudrapur constituency can be seen telling an officer that he would not stop campaigning even if his rally violates coronavirus norms. His constituency votes on March 3. 

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Uttar Pradesh assembly elections kicked off on Thursday with constituencies across 11 states casting their ballot. As many as 623 candidates are in the fray and around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase. The state recorded a voter turnout of 20% till 11 AM. 

Yadav was stopped by the district police chief while out campaigning on Wednesday evening. The police chief, Sripati Mishra, asked him why he was accompanied by hundreds of people, defying COVID safety rules. 

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The SP candidate, standing out of the sunroof of his white sedan, declared that he would not stop. 

“What is this? Have you started a ‘goonda ka raj’?” someone yelled at Yadav. 

“In a democracy everyone has the right to take part in the political process. You cannot stop this,” the Samajwadi leader said. 

“Please remember governments come and go,” he added.

Watch:

Mishra then asked the politician to step out of the car as people surrounding started shouting. Neither Yadav nor his supporters were wearing masks. 

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“Some people were waiting to welcome me. What could I do? Police were acting on orders from the BJP… all these officials are BJP agents. I warned the police that the Akhilesh Yadav government will come and we will take care of them,” Yadav told reporters, as per NDTV reports, later.