BHOPAL: A ruling BJP leader was booked for allegedly letting his minor son cast his vote and for filming and posting the entire act on Facebook during the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls in Bhopal on Tuesday.
Taking the video to the social media platform 'X', Piyush Babele, the media advisor to ex-state Congress chief Kamal Nath wrote, “BJP’s district panchayat member Vinay Mehar got his minor son to cast his vote. Made a video, posted it on Facebook, Will any action be taken? The collector said that an inquiry is being conducted and if found guilty, strict action will be taken against the presiding officer and the concerned person.”
The opposition Congress also questioned how a mobile phone was allowed into the polling booth and how the minor was allowed to accompany his father into the booth.
After verifying the authenticity of the video, the district election officer suspended the presiding officer, Sandeep Saini, of the concerned polling booth with immediate effect.
Also, an FIR was lodged against the BJP leader Vinay Mehar at the local police station.
The Berasia-SC seat is one of the eight assembly segments forming part of the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, which includes the Bhopal and Sehore districts. The assembly seat is held by BJP’s Vishnu Khatri and is considered a stronghold of the ruling party.
The Bhopal Lok Sabha seat which was among the nine seats reported 64.34% polling, which was around 10% lower than the voter turnout of 2019 elections.
Ex-mayor and Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s loyalist BJP candidate Alok Sharma was pitted against Congress’s Arun Srivastava in the May 7 elections.