CLAIM
A video of a polling booth being captured allegedly with the support of Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh, Anil Upadhyay, has been circulating on social media.
The video shows a man asking or likely intimidating voters present at the polling booth to vote, invading their privacy at the booth. However, the audio of the viral video has been entirely distorted and voices cannot be heard clearly.
The viral video has been circulating with the caption “कोंग्रेस विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय की इस हरकत पर क्या कहेगे राहुल जी, इस video को इतना वायरल करो की ये पूरा हिन्दुस्तान देख सके..” (How will Rahul react to Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay’s action? Make this video viral so that entire India can see it.)
The video has emerged at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are underway, with polling in two of the seven phases completed.
FACT
The video is misleading and makes false claims.
The man in question is not Congress’ Anil Upadhyay and in a clearer version of the video, one can hear people conversing in Bangla, indicating that the video was not captured in Madhya Pradesh.
Facebook page Shankh Naad and Republic TV shared the original video, in which people can be heard talking in Bangla.
‘Not MP, But West Bengal’s Islampur’
The video is originally from Islampur city which falls under the Raiganj constituency of West Bengal. The constituency had gone to polls in the second phase on Thursday, 18 April.
When The Quint reached out to the local reporters, they confirmed that the incident took place at the polling booth number 29/12 in Islampur.
According to The Quint’s sources, the man in the video is a TMC worker named Md Sominuddin from Raiganj. When asked what was he doing inside the polling booth during an interview to local media, he had said that he was only present there to help his aged mother and first-time voter daughters with the voting process, as the presiding officer in the booth fell sick.
A day after the polling, Raiganj CPM candidate Mohammed Salim demanded re-polling at 24 booths, alleging booth-capturing and hooliganism by Trinamool Congress workers. He alleged that armed “goons” intimidated the voters, ANI reported.
A report by Republic TV also claims the video of the polling booth being captured took place in West Bengal’s Islampur.
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