Allegations of Booth Capture & EC's Announcement of Repolling in Gujarat's Dahod

In a significant decision, the Election Commission (EC) issued instructions for re-polling on Saturday, 11 May, at the Parthampur polling station under the Dahod Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat, where Vijay Bhabhor, the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Jaswantsinh Bhabhor, allegedly attempted to capture the polling booth, engaged in fraudulent voting, and live-streamed the entire incident from inside the booth on Instagram. The post was later deleted and two persons, including Vijay Bhabhor, arrested.Polling in 25 of Gujarat's 26 Lok Sabha seats took place on Tuesday, 7 May, in the third phase of the general election.According to figures released by the EC on Tuesday night, the voter turnout in Gujarat's 25 Lok Sabha constituencies was only 58.98 percent, a significant drop of over 5.5 percent from the 2019 figures. Gujarat had recorded 64.11 percent voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.What's Stopping Young Voters From Casting Their Votes In The Lok Sabha Polls? In the widely circulated video, Vijay Bhabhor is allegedly heard saying in Gujarati, "machine apnu baap nu che (the machine belongs to my father)". He then states, "Only one thing works, and that is BJP," before pressing a button on the EVM.The video then shows Bhabhor focusing the camera on the EVM and a VVPAT (Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machine, demanding five to ten minutes from a poll official despite being asked to leave. He further claims that "only the BJP works here". His accomplice Magan Damor was also seen in the video.Further, Bhadhor is also seen urging people to press the "lotus button", which represents the BJP.A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against him and Damor based on a complaint lodged by Santrampur Mamlatdar IP Pathan, who is also the additional electoral registration officer. "We filed an FIR, and both people have been arrested and are in our custody. The person came to cast his own vote, and then he started all this. He entered the booth at 5:49 PM, while 6 PM is the closing time," Mahisagar Superintendent of Police Jaydeepsinh Jadeja told The Quint.WebQoof Recap: Of Misinformation Around Lok Sabha Polls, PM Modi and MoreThe charges against them include Sections 171D (Personation at elections), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), and 114 (Abettor present when offense is committed) of Indian Penal Code 1860, and Section 128 (Maintenance of secrecy of voting), 131 (Penalty for disorderly conduct in or near polling stations), 132 (Penalty for misconduct at the polling station), and 135 (Removal of ballot papers from polling stations) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951. Jadeja, however, said that the incident was not a genuine booth-capturing case. "He wanted to show off and pull this stunt. It wasn't like he captured the booth with muscle power. He did it to show off. The actual form of booth capturing is when 5-10 men come and intimidate and assault voters; this is not an instance like that," Jadeja explained.Manish Doshi, spokesperson of the Congress Party, disagreed and said that the police are trying to save face. "If it was just bogus voting then the EC would not have ordered repolling," he stated.Doshi feels that Bhadhor will be released soon since he's the son of a BJP leader. "As the son of a BJP politician, does he have the right to do anything he wants? And he couldn't have done it without the backing of the BJP. He was unafraid because he knew there are people who would protect him. I'm not sure if any appropriate action would be taken against them," he said.Lok Sabha 2024: In J&K, Poll Patterns are Back to Square OneHowever, this is not the first time BJP MP Jaswantsinh Bhabhor or his family has come under fire. On 25 March last year, Bhabhor was seen sharing the stage with Shailesh Bhatt, one of the 11 convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape and murder case. His brother Shailesh Bhai Bhabhor, the BJP MLA from Limkheda, was also on stage.The Dahod Lok Sabha constituency became a reserved seat for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in 1967, and the Congress held it for nine consecutive terms from 1967 and 1999, until the BJP won the elections for two terms in 1999 and 2004. In 2009, Congress candidate Prabha Taviyad defeated Somji Damor. In 2014 and 2019, the BJP won again with Jasvantsinh Bhabhor as its candidate.In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, the BJP won all seven assembly seats in the Dahod constituency, including Devgarh Baria, where the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had a seat-sharing agreement. Following the alleged booth-capturing incident, Prabhaben Taviad, Congress' candidate for Dahod, filed a complaint against Bhabhor with the district collector and district election officer on 8 May. Tavaid urged the EC to take strict legal action against Bhabhor, the polling staff, and police officials stationed at the booth. Doshi claimed that the EC and police did not take action until the video went viral on social media -- at which point Bhabhor and his accomplice were arrested and four election officials, including a presiding officer, an assistant presiding officer, two polling officers, and a police constable were suspended.Contrasting Visions for Women Empowerment in India's 2024 Lok Sabha ElectionsP Bharathi, Gujarat's chief electoral officer, then sent a report to the EC, which declared voting at the polling station on 7 May null and void under Section 58, Subsection 2 of the Representation of the People Act. On 11 May, fresh polling was scheduled at the polling station from 7 AM to 6 PM.According to Doshi, the Congress' polling agents filed two different complaints with the Santrampur Police about similar incidents of alleged bogus voting in approximately 15 polling stations under the Gothib Taluka panchayat.A Congress polling agent from Gothi village claimed he was beaten by the arrested duo and threatened with dire consequences, a report by The Indian Express stated.The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) filed complaints with the EC during the third phase of polling on 7 May, alleging that BJP polling agents and polling officers had violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by allegedly using pens with the BJP's symbols.Opposition leaders like Doshi claim that the BJP is using voter-suppressing tactics to win more seats. He said that while "anti-social" groups attempted to prevent the voting process in certain areas, BJP members allegedly "threatened" Muslim and Dalit voters in Ahmadabad. "Wherever they think people will vote against them, they use such suppression tactics," he alleged.Six hundred kilometres west of Dahod, in Gujarat’s Dwarka district, at least 575 Muslim fishermen from Gandhvi and Navadra villages were unable to vote on 7 May because their names were removed from the voter roll following the razing of their ghettos for the expansion of ports.On the same day, India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, was marred by allegations of police violence in Sambhal, a Muslim-majority constituency, with reports of police action against Muslim voters and their identity cards being confiscated to prevent them from voting. At a school in Sambhal’s Obri village where polling was taking place, the police were purportedly spotted chasing out voters and beating them with batons. Old News Clipping Carrying JP Nadda’s Remarks Falsely Linked to Lok Sabha PollsMeanwhile, Doshi blasted the police for allegedly failing to intervene to prevent Bhabhor from "capturing the booth," and described the EC's behavior as "suspicious." "The EC responsibility is to ensure that there are free and fair elections and that every voter gets to exercise their right to vote. However, the EC ought to have responded appropriately to our concerns, but they aren't doing it on purpose," he said. Doshi claims that they only received responses to smaller complaints related to EVM malfunctions and that they rarely received a response to complaints of voter suppression. The EC has repeatedly been criticised for its alleged failure to address hate speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party leaders, and for delays in releasing voting data -- resulting in suspicions pertaining to alleged vote tampering.The Quint contacted BJP Gujarat state president Chandrakant Raghunath Patil about the allegations leveled against his party, and the chief electoral officer of Gujarat, but has not received any response from either of them. Meanwhile, Doshi says that party workers had been vigilant for today's re-polling. “You never know what they’ll try next.”

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Repolling in Gujarat's Dahod Where BJP Leader's Son Attempted To Capture Booth

The son of a BJP MP was arrested for going live on Instagram from a polling booth in Gujarat's Dahod on 7 May.

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Topics: Gujarat Lok Sabha Elections 2024