New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- In August and September, at least 70 Muslims were shot and injured in 'half-encounters' in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, according to a bulletin from the South Asia Justice Campaign (SAJC).

These numbers are part of the first edition of the Election Watch-UP, 2027 report published recently. SAJC calls itself a "non-partisan movement calling for the protection of human rights, democracy and diversity in India and the wider South Asia region".

According to the SAJC, "It is an established pattern now that elections in Uttar Pradesh in recent years - parliamentary, state, or local - become moments of heightened anti-minority rhetoric and violence."

The report is thus an attempt to record facts as well as to "act as an evid...