LUCKNOW: A
viral video
showing the
17-year-old
son of a gram pradhan purportedly voting eight times at a
polling station
in UP’s
Farrukhabad constituency
on May 13 led the authorities to file an FIR and detain him Sunday, initiate disciplinary proceedings against officials managing the booth, and recommend a repoll.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, and Congress’s X handle were among those who shared the two-minute, 19-second video compilation.
The video shows the offender flashing different ID cards at intervals and appearing to press the
EVM button
in front of BJP candidate Mukesh Rajput’s photo and the lotus symbol.
UP’s chief election officer Navdeep Rinwa said the underage voter is the son of a gram pradhan of a village in Etah district. “An FIR has been registered under sections 171-F and 419 of IPC, and 128, 132 & 136 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 at Nayagaon police station in Etah district,” he said.
The village official told TOI that some polling agents took his son to a nearby booth before the start of voting “to participate in the EVM machine inspection/randomisation”. “My son pressed the ballot unit several times, shot the video and later shared it.”
SP chief Akhilesh shared the video Sunday on X saying, “If Election Commission feels this is wrong, then it must take some action, otherwise… BJP’s booth committee is actually a loot committee.”
Rahul wrote, “Congress expects from all the officers performing election duty that they should not forget their constitutional responsibility under the pressure of power.”