Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Faridabad polling agent arrested for 'influencing voters' inside booth

A polling agent was caught on camera for ‘influencing’ voters inside a booth in Haryana’s Faridabad during the sixth round of the Lok Sabha polls on Sunday. After the video of the alleged act went viral, the Election Commission ordered arrest of the agent, who has not been identified as of now.

 

एक नेता को जिताने के लिए ये तरीका सही नहीं है! ! ये संविधान, कानून और नैतिकता के खिलाफ भी है! ! ! गाँव असावटी पलवल (हरियाणा) pic.twitter.com/m2euOOBkf2

— SHAHID KURESHI (@UqAsmTfpZGNwK0e) May 12, 2019

The one minute, 18-second long clip shows the man dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans going and apparently pressing the EVM button as the women voters prepare to cast their votes. The small clip doesn’t show anyone inside the Faridabad polling booth to stop the agent.

 

Matter taken very seriously by the administration of Faridabad district. ARO Bharat Bhushan Gogia HCS rushed to the spot . Soon he was joined by the observer SH. Sanjay Kumar who investigated the entire matter.

— DISTRICT ELECTION OFFICE FARIDABAD (@OfficeFaridabad) May 12, 2019

After outrage on Twitter, many people tagged the Election Commission and demanded answer. Later in the day, the poll panel’s Faridabad office took to Twitter and announced the action taken against the agent. “Matter taken very seriously by the administration of Faridabad district. ARO Bharat Bhushan Gogia HCS rushed to the spot . Soon he was joined by the observer SH. Sanjay Kumar who investigated the entire matter.” “The person in the video is the Polling agent who has been arrested in the afternoon itself. FIR lodged. 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,” the Faridabad poll panel said.  

The voter turnout was 64.48% in Faridabad. Union minister Krishan Pal Gurjar is contesting against Congress’s Avtar Singh Bhadana and INLD’s Mahender Chauhan in this seat.

All 10 seats in Haryana went to polls on May 12. Results will be declared on May 23.

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. In the 2014 general election, the overall poll percentage stood at 71.86. Till compiling of figures at 11 pm, 69.50 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the polls, Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer Rajeev Ranjan said. A total of 1.80 crore electorate in the state was eligible to exercise their franchise.

The highest polling percentage (till 11 pm) was recorded in the Sirsa parliamentary constituency (74.08), followed by Kurukshetra (72.70), Hisar (71.17), Ambala (70.84), Bhiwani-Mahendergarh (69.88), Rohtak (69.36), Sonipat (69.08), Gurgaon (68.45).

Across the state, there were some assembly constituencies, including some reserved segments, which are part of Lok Sabha seats, where the voter turnout was quite high.

(With inputs from PTI)