Son of BJP leader snatches poll booth and streams it live, declaring, “EVM belongs to my father.”

By : Shrishti Mehra

A BJP leader’s son and a polling agent were arrested on Wednesday after the former livestreamed a video from inside a polling booth in Gujarat’s Dahod on May 7, during the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Dahod: A man has been arrested for alleged fake voting after live-streaming from inside a poll booth in the Dahod Lok Sabha seat, officials said on Wednesday. The Congress has claimed that the man, Vijay Bhabhor, is the son of a local BJP politician, accusing him of “insulting democracy” by streaming live on Instagram from the polling station.

After the opposition filed a complaint with the Election Commission and provided a copy of the film, police in the state’s Mahisagar district detained Bhabhor and another guy. Though Babhor withdrew the video after it received criticism, it had already gone popular on social media by then.

According to Dahod Returning Officer Nirgude Babanrao, the incidence of a guy transmitting a video live on Instagram after going to a ballot booth to vote is under investigation.

“We have received the video with a complaint and an investigation is underway,” stated the official.

On Tuesday, polling took place in 25 of Gujarat’s 26 Lok Sabha seats as part of the third phase of the election. The BJP candidate in Surat won unchallenged.

According to Mahisagar Superintendent of Police Jaydeepsinh Jadeja, the event occurred at a polling booth in Parthampur, Mahisagar district, within the Dahod parliamentary seat.

“We have detained two persons and action is being taken based on the FIR registered by the presiding officer under the Representative of the People Act for bogus voting,” Jadeja explained.

He stated that Bhabhor arrived at the polling station at 5.49 p.m. and left at 5.54 p.m.

In those five minutes, he went live on Instagram and reportedly cast votes on behalf of two other electors, committing fraud, he claimed.

Prabha Taviad is the Congress’ candidate in the constituency. She will face up against Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, the incumbent MP.

According to Congress, the individual who shared the “booth-capturing” video on Instagram is the son of a local BJP leader.

Manish Doshi, a Congress spokesperson, stated that the incident had resulted in repolling at booth number 220 in Parthampur.

“Son of a BJP leader at Mahisagar played with the EVM machine and abused the Election Commission by creating a live video of booth capturing and thereby insulting democracy,” Doshi stated.

A member of Congress uploaded the alleged video on his X account. “Vijay Bhabhor, the son of a BJP leader, wins the Parthampur Village booth in Santrampur. He goes live on social media while doing so, threatening poll officials,” he alleged.

The video shows Bhabhor allegedly focussing the camera on an EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) and a VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machine and demanding five to 10 minutes from a poll official despite being asked to leave. Bhabhor also supposedly claims that “only the BJP works here”. The video also included footage of his accomplice.

“The machine belonged to my father. According to the footage, just one thing works: BJP.” Bhabhor states this before hitting a button on the EVM. “Only Vijay Bhabhor works here,” he reportedly claims.