Videos of Alleged Bogus Voting in Gujarat Goes Viral, to be Probed

Two videos, allegedly indicating bogus voting at a booth in Gandhinagar LS constituency, surfaced on social media.

Complaint of alleged bogus voting was reported from Sanand in Ahmedabad District which falls under Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Seat

(Photo: The Quint)

Election authorities in Gujarat ordered an inquiry on Wednesday, 24 April, after two videos, allegedly indicating that bogus voting took place at a booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, surfaced on social media.

The video went viral on social media with the claim that bogus voting took place at Bapupura booth in Sanand tehsil. Incidentally, among the seven assembly constituencies under Gandhinagar, Sanand recorded the highest turnout at 71.09 per cent

One of the videos purportedly shows Ahmedabad District Panchayat President, Jitendrasinh Chauhan indulging in bogus voting. The videos show a person wearing white trousers and shirt signing documents placed on a table inside a room, which appears to be a polling booth.

Congress MLA from Gandhinagar, C J Chavda, who is contesting against BJP National President Amit Shah , sent the video to Gandhinagar collector and the returning officer S K Langa . Sanand falls under Ahmedabad district’s Bavla taluka and is part of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha Constituency.

No Clarity Yet on Video’s Authenticity

Chavda said he himself was not sure if the video indicated that bogus voting was going on, but since it went viral, he forwarded it to the district election officer to find out the truth.

Preliminary inquiry into one of the videos which went viral on Tuesday evening suggested that there was no bogus voting.

“As soon as I received the video from Chavda yesterday, I sought a report from Sanand Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM). The SDM told me there was no concrete evidence to prove that such an incident took place at Bapupura yesterday. The SDM said either the video was fake or it was from a past election,” Langa told reporters.

However, after one more video came out, Langa sought a detailed report from election officials of Sanand tehsil.

“Today, I have received another video clip of the alleged incident. So I asked the assistant returning officer of Sanand to conduct a detailed inquiry to check authenticity of these clips. I have also asked local police to conduct an inquiry to find out the place, time and date on which these videos were shot.”

S K Langa, Gandhinagar collector and the returning officer 

(With Inputs from PTI)