A politician fighting to clear his name over the death of a celebrity horse was among candidates trying to woo voters as the Indian state of Uttarakhand went to the polls Wednesday.
Uttarakhand is one of four states holding elections this month but a long-running saga over the untimely death of a beloved police horse has turned its contest especially sour.
Ganesh Joshi from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking re-election despite fighting allegations in court that he clubbed a police horse so badly during a political rally that it lost a leg.
“Shaktiman” became a cause celebre, and his eventual death from infection outraged Indians who had followed every step of his ordeal in the press.
The horse was buried with full police honours, and Joshi was among those briefly arrested for animal cruelty over the 2016 incident.
The sitting politician denied being responsible for the assault, saying cries of “horse killer” flung by his opponents in the Congress party had only helped his cause.
“It has not damaged my reputation, it has only helped me,” he said during an election rally in the hill town of Mussoorie.
“People around here know that if anyone gets hurt, I take them to the hospital in my car. They know that I could never do this (hit the horse).”
If he wins, Joshi has promised to build a top-class veterinary hospital in Uttarakhand, but the results will not be known until March 11.
The Uttarakhand poll, along with those in Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, is being seen as a key test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi halfway through his term.
A fifth state, Manipur in the northeast, goes to the polls next month.
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