Azamgarh (UP)/UNI: A school headmaster was shot dead by unidentified miscreants allegedly over poll-related rivalry in the Jiyanpur area of Azamgarh district here in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, a senior police officer said here.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Anurag Arya said that Sanjay Yadav (46), a resident of Kasra Aima village, was headmaster in-charge of a composite school in Akhaipur.

"On Thursday morning when Sanjay was going to school, he was shot at by unidentified people. The miscreants fled from the spot after local residents raised the alarm," he said.

He said that Sanjay was taken to the trauma centre of a private hospital where he succumbed to injury.

"The family members of the headmaster had odged a complaint against two people accusing them of having rivalry over Panchayat elections. There is a criminal history of them named by Sanjay's kin. Strict action will be taken against them," he said.