Shamli district administration has said that after conducting a probe that out of 346 families, who had apparently left from Kairana due to fear of Muslims, 188 had left the area over five years ago.

A home department spokesman said the officials have verified the list of 346 families provided by BJP MP Hukum Singh and it was found that 66 families had left Kairana a decade age. The spokesman added that the probe also revealed that 60 families were living elsewhere for reasons relating to education, employment, health, or others.

According to spokesman, around 28 families mentioned in the list are still living in Kairana and the names of seven families have been mentioned in the list twice. The spokesman said that the list contains the names of five villagers who were on government service and they left Kairana after retirement.

The inquiry, however, showed that three families had faced 'rangdari' threats and police took timely action. The spokesman said that some Muslim families also left Kairana in search of livelihood and education.

It is learned that the local residents have also compiled a list and handed it over to the district magistrate. The list contains names of 45 Muslim residents who had also left Kairana. The compilers of the list also claimed that another 145 Muslims had left Kairana in the last few years and they will mention the names of these families in their second list.

"Our aim is not to tell the administration that Muslim families have been forced to leave but to simply let the world know that migration of both communities has been taking place in Kairana for the last 10-15 years. There are number of reasons behind migration and crime is not the only one," the DNA report quoted one of the compilers of the list as saying.

In a related development, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said BJP does not want to "communalise or polarise" the UP elections, but the state government must address the issue if there is "even some evidence of migration" from Kairana.

"We don't want in anyway to communalise or polarise the election, but if there is even some evidence of migration taking place from Kairana, it's an important issue that the state government there must address it," Jaitley said.

BJP MLA Sangeet Som on Friday led a rally in Kairana, where prohibitory orders are in place. A similar rally was also held by SP leader Atul Pradhan.