LUCKNOW: Taking cognizance of an incident related to alleged fake voting flagged by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, a formal first information report (FIR) was lodged in Farrukhabad on Sunday.
A video of the incident had gone viral on social media. In the video, a youth is seen casting his vote eight times by pressing a button in front of BJP candidate Mukesh Rajput's photo on the ballot unit at different time intervals with different government identification cards. The video shows that the unidentified youth has changed his shirt at least twice while voting multiple times.
Mukesh Rajput is the BJP candidate from Farrukhabad. Polling in the Farrukhabad seat took place in the fourth phase of the general elections, on May 13.
The 2:19 minute long video with multiple takes (shot stitched) was uploaded by Akhilesh Yadav from his official social media handle with a caption that read…”If the Election Commission feels that this is wrong then it must take some action, otherwise… BJP's booth committee is actually a loot committee (sic).”
After the video went viral, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Office made an official statement via its X (formerly Twitter) handle which read, “Cognizance of the circulating video has been taken. Concerned District Election Officer has been directed to take prompt and effective action.”
According to Farrukhabad ADM Subhash Chandra Prajapati, an FIR has been lodged in the matter.
The official statement issued by the Farrukhabad DEO office read, “Taking serious cognizance of the Tweet posted by Akhilesh Yadav, Farrukhabad Lok Sabha election assistant returning officer of the 103-Aliganj assembly constituency has filed FIR in Nayagaon police station of Etah district under section 171F, 419 IPC, 128, 132, 136 Public Representation Act 1950, 1951, 1989. Further 66 IT (Amendment) Act 2008 has also been levied.”
As per Aliganj CO Sudhanshu Shekhar, the police is working to trace the person seen in the video to ascertain the sequence of events and the truth.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a tweet said, “Seeing its defeat in front of it, BJP wants to loot democracy by pressuring the government machinery to deny the mandate. Congress expects from all the officers performing election duty that they should not forget their constitutional responsibility under the pressure of power. Otherwise, as soon as the government of INDIA alliance is formed, such action will be taken that anyone will think 10 times before insulting the 'Oath of the Constitution'.