The 17-year-old son of a village head has been apprehended for allegedly casting votes multiple times during the fourth phase of polling in Farrukhabad seat on May 13, police said on Monday.
The video in this regard was shared by Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on their social media accounts.
The viral video showed the teenager pressing the EVM button seven to eight times in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for the constituency, Mukesh Rajput.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said repolling has been recommended to the Election Commission in the polling station concerned.
Naval Kishore Shakya, the SP candidate from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat, which went to polls in the fourth phase on May 13, submitted a written complaint in this regard, following which a case was registered against the teenager.
Shakya also the posted the incident's video on social media and complained to the District Election Officer.
"The accused teenager has been detained and the matter is being investigated," SHO of Nayagaon police station Ritesh Thakur on Monday told PTI.
The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district where the son of Khiriya Pamaran village pradhan (head) Anil Thakur allegedly cast fake vote about seven to eight times at booth number 343 under the Nayagaon police station limits.
The teenager himself recorded a video of the act and uploaded it on social media. It became viral after the SP chief and Gandhi shared it on their X handles.
Farrukhabad District Magistrate V K Singh said that taking note of the video posted by the SP chief, the assistant returning officer concerned has lodged an FIR at the Nayagaon police station.
A case has been registered under the Representation of People's Act and IT Act, Singh said.
The accused teenager has been detained and sent to the rehabilitation centre in Etah, the police said.
Meanwhile, CEO Rinwa issued a statement saying, 'A video of a person voting multiple times has circulated in social media. Action has already been taken in regard to the above incident.'
He added that instructions have been issued to suspend and institute disciplinary proceedings against all members of the polling party concerned.
"Repolling has been recommended to the ECI in the polling station concerned," the CEO said, and added that strict instructions to rigorously follow the procedure for voter identification have been issued to all District Election Officers for the remaining poll phases in the state.
The Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat consists of four assembly segments of Kaimganj (SC), Amritpur, Farrukhabad and Bhojpur, which are located in Farrukhabad district. The assembly segment of Aliganj is located in Etah district.
