Gorakhpur: Polling for the Gorakhpur-Faizabad divisional teachers’ constituency of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council began at 8am on Friday amid allegations of poll interference and a confrontation between BJP and Samajwadi Party workers in front of SP candidate Sanjayan Tripathi.A heated exchange broke out between BJP and SP workers at DAV Degree College, with both the sides accusing each other of attempting to influence the polling process.Meanwhile, MLC Devendra Pratap Singh has written to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), seeking immediate removal of election observer IAS Abhay Singh. In his email complaint, Singh alleged that the officer’s appointment was intended to facilitate irregularities during vote counting. He cited a 2019 CBI FIR against Abhay Singh in connection with an alleged illegal mining case in UP and claimed that a large amount of cash was recovered during a search of the officer’s residence. He urged the CEC to take serious note of the status of the CBI investigation and the circumstances surrounding the officer’s subsequent postings.Singh also questioned the basis for appointing Abhay Singh as observer for the sensitive teachers’ constituency, alleging that the officer’s service-related circumstances could affect his impartiality.A total of 54,910 teachers across 17 districts are eligible to vote, with 16 candidates in the fray. The candidates include BJP’s Dhruv Tripathi, SP’s Dr Sanjayan Tripathi, Ajay Singh, Rakesh Singh, Rajiv Yadav, Satyapal Singh, Sharadendu Kumar Tripathi, Nirankar Ram Tripathi, Ajit Kumar Singh, Dev Bhaskar Tiwari, Rajesh Pandey, Shiv Shyam Yadav, Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Pankaj Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Tiwari and Ram Pratap Ram.