A 23-year-old Dalit woman’s body found in a sack in Uttar Pradesh’s Karhal constituency this morning has sparked a political storm after her family alleged that a local Samajwadi Party worker had been pressuring her against voting for BJP in the bypolls being held today.

Police said Prashant Yadav and Mohan Katheria have been arrested in a case registered on a complaint by the woman’s father. “The parents of the woman have said the accused killed her because she wanted to vote for the BJP,” Mainpuri district police chief Vinod Kumar said.

The victim’s father alleged that Prashant Yadav came to their home three days back and asked her which party she would vote for. She replied she would vote ‘lotus’ — BJP’s symbol — because her family got a home under the PM Awas Yojana. Yadav then threatened her and asked her to vote for ‘cycle’ — the Samajwadi Party’s election symbol, the woman’s father alleged.

The BJP has launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party over the woman’s death.

“At Karhal in Mainpuri district, Samajwadi Party’s Prashant Yadav and his aides brutally murdered a Dalit daughter only because she refused to vote for ‘cycle’,” state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said in a post on X.

While senior Samajwadi Party leaders are yet to respond to the incident, the party’s Karhal candidate Tej Pratap Yadav said there must be a thorough probe and the guilty must face tough punishment. Without referring to the murder, the party’s handle on ‘X’ put up a post, alleging that police were intimidating voters in the name of patrolling.

The allegations surrounding the woman’s death come amid a massive blame game between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Samajwadi Party as nine Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh vote in today’s bypolls. These seats — Katehari, Karhal, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki — were vacated after the sitting MLAs were elected to Lok Sabha. In fact, it was Akhilesh Yadav who represented Karhal in the Assembly before being elected to Lok Sabha as Kannauj MP.

Since this morning, Mr Yadav has been accusing the state administration and police of blocking voters and urged people not to return without casting their vote. The BJP, on the other hand, has said the Samajwadi Party knows it is losing and its allegations reflect its frustration.