Man seen voting for BJP multiple times in UP in viral video, arrested

LUCKNOW: A man was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with a viral video which showed him casting multiple votes in favour of a BJP candidate at a polling booth in Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency.

The said man, identified as Rajan Singh, was arrested after several leaders of the opposition parties shared the video of the incident on X.

"Dear Election Commission, do you see this? One person is voting 8 times. It's time to wake up," Congress wrote on X.

"If the Election Commission feels that this is wrong, they should certainly take some action, otherwise... BJP's booth committee is actually a loot committee," Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X.

In the viral two-minute-long video, the Rajan Singh can be seen voting for a BJP candidate, Mukesh Rajput, on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) for about times.

Following the incident, an FIR was filed at the Naya Gaon police station based on a complaint by ARO Prateet Tripathi.

The case has been registered under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other relevant laws, including IPC Section 171F (offense related to elections), IPC Section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), Sections 128, 132, and 136 of the Representation of the People Act (related to maintaining the secrecy of voting, fraud at elections, and other election offenses) and others.

The Election Commission also took cognisance of the matter and has directed concerned authorities to take prompt and effective action.

"Cognizance of the circulating video has been taken. Concerned District Election Officer has been directed to take prompt and effective action," Chief Election Officer, Uttar Pradesh said.