The video emerged from a village in the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency that falls under Etah district. Polling in the Farrukhabad seat took place on May 13.
Credit: X/@yadavakhilesh
Uttar Pradesh police arrested a youth, who is supposedly the son of a local BJP leader, after a video allegedly showed him casting his vote eight times at a polling booth in the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency. The video soon went went viral on social media platforms.
Police sources here said that the youth, who was a resident of Kheria Pamaran village in Etah district, was arrested late on Sunday night after a case was registered against him at Nayagaon police station.
The polling booth in question was in Aliganj assembly segment of Farrukhabad LS constituency and was part of Etah district. The father of the accused was said to be a local BJP leader, sources said.
The video purportedly showed the youth pushing the button on the EVM against the BJP candidate. The youth casts his vote and then shows his face and then again repeats the process. He is shown doing it eight times. The alleged incident occurred at booth number 343.
The video, which created a storm on social media, was shared by Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on 'X' (formerly Twitter) asking the Election Commission to take action.
''If the EC thinks that something wrong has been done then it should act....else,'' Akhilesh wrote in his message. He also said that the booth committee of the BJP was in fact 'loot committee'.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also shared the video on X and warned that stern action would be taken against those who violate the Constitution when the I.N.D.I.A alliance formed the government after the polls. ''Sensing its defeat in the polls, the BJP wants to hijack the mandate by pressurising the officials,'' Rahul said in his message.
The officials said that all the four members of the polling party at the concerned booth had been suspended. Re-polling was also recommended at the booth, the officials added. Polling had taken place in Farrukhabad LS constituency on May 13.
Earlier also the police had detained a BJP leader after a video in which he was heard telling his party workers to 'deliberately create ruckus' at the booths in Muslim-dominated areas in Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh if they saw a large number of women outside the booths on the polling day so that the women would find it difficult to cast their votes and return home instead. This video too had gone viral.
The leader, identified as Bhuvanesh Varshneya, who was said to be the Nagar secretary of the saffron party in Muslim-dominated Sambhal, was also heard telling the party workers to bribe the cops so that they did not act against them.
"All you (party workers) have to do is to challenge a few voters....you need to have some money... create ruckus if you see a large number of women (Muslim)... don't indulge in fighting... only create ruckus so that the women return home without casting their votes," Varshneya was heard saying. Sambhal went to polls on May 7.
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