A polling agent has been arrested after a video showing the man allegedly trying to influence voters in Faridabad was brought to the notice of poll body in Haryana.
District Election Office in Faridabad said that 'observer' enquired the matter and concluded that voting was not 'vitiated' at the polling booth which has 1271 votes
A polling agent has been arrested after a video showing the man allegedly trying to influence voters in Faridabad was brought to the notice of poll body in Haryana.
The incident reportedly happened during the Sunday's sixth round of voting in the Lok Sabha elections in Faridabad, near Delhi, NDTV reported on Monday.
The man was arrested and charged for alleged booth capturing on Sunday evening by the police, based on the complaint of Election Commission of India which said it had sent the Faridabad poll observer to the booth for an enquiry.
The video shows women queued up to exercise their franchise inside a polling booth at Asaoti in Faridabad Lok Sabha seat's Prithla. Just as a woman approaches the voting compartment to cast her vote, the man can be seen getting up and walking to the compartment, and apparently, pressing a button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). He then can be seen to repeat the same with two other women, without any protest or objection from any polling official, before the video ends.
After the video started to circulate on social media, people tagged Haryana election body's Twitter handle bringing to its notice the apparent gross violation.
"Prompt action taken. FIR lodged. Person behind bars. Observer enquired the matter personally and is satisfied that polling was never vitiated (sic)," the District Election Office in Faridabad tweeted.
"He was trying to effect at least 3 lady voters. Observer & ARO with teams visited the booth at Asawati in prithala constituency. He is satisfied that voting was never vitiated," it said.
"The booth has 1271 votes. Voting percentage of 68 per cent was recorded," said DEO in another tweet.
A voter turnout of 69.50 per cent was recorded on Sunday in the 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana, where 223 candidates, including two Union ministers and a former chief minister, are in the fray. Faridabad
Faridabad, where Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar of the BJP is seeking re-election recorded a 64.46 turnout.
Avtar Singh Bhadana is the Congress candidate and Pandit Naveen Jaihind is the Aam Aadmi Party candidate.
In the 2014 general election, the overall poll percentage stood at 71.86.