A Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district allegedly hit a differently-abled man with a stick and repeatedly poked his face with it for criticising the party's rule in the state and the Centre, with a video of the incident going viral on Wednesday.
In the video, the local BJP leader, Mohammad Miya, purportedly assaults the man who was shouting that he would vote for Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Miya, later sought to defend his action, saying the man was drunk and dubbed it as a 'conspiracy to malign the BJP'.
Police said a case had been registered in the matter and efforts were on to nab the culprit.
The man, who doesn't put up a fight, is heard shouting, "Vote denge Akhilesh ko (Will vote for Akhilesh Yadav)", as he walks away.
The BJP leader abuses him and says, "Go go, vote. Hutt (get lost)".
Facing outrage, Miya later claimed that he was only trying to make the man leave the place.
"He was abusing Modi ji and Yogi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath).
"I tried to first explain things, he was drunk. It was a conspiracy to malign the BJP, I was just trying to make him leave the place.
"I didn't shove a stick in his mouth," he told a news channel.
