Chhattisgarh: Video showing faulty EVM registering votes only for BJP is fake, says EC

evms Representational image | File

A two-minute video doing the rounds on the social media, which allegedly shows a malfunctioning electronic voting machine (EVM) polling votes only for the BJP in the Chhattisgarh elections is fake, the Election Commission clarified on Monday.

The EC called out the hoax video, claiming to show a malfunctioning EVM in the first phase of elections in the state on November 12, after getting a report from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Chhattisgarh.

According to the CEO's report, there are several obvious signs in the video which make it clear that it does not even belong to the state. The report points out that the voting compartment seen in the video is different from what is being used in the Chhattisgarh elections. The voting compartments used in the Chhattisgarh polls were made of corrugated plastic sheet bearing a full colour symbol of the Election Commission, while the one in the video is made of cardboard and does not carry the symbol, the report states.

The other tell-tale signs of the video being a hoax are that the ballot paper seen in it is white whereas pink ballot paper was used in Chhattisgarh polls, and the identity card of the poll staff shown is yellow, while the commission has issued ID cards that are white in colour to the poll staff in the current elections.

The CEO's report also notes that the video seems to be of a cold place as the people in it are seen wearing sweaters, jackets, woollen headgear and mufflers. It pointed out that the weather was not cold on the day of polling. “No one except in Ambikapur area uses this type of woollen clothes, and there polling has not yet taken place. It is due on November 20,” the report said.

The report also states that no complaint of the kind of malfunction depicted in the video has been received by the commission.

It was brought to the notice of the commission that the video was being tweeted with the message that in the elections in Chhattisgarh, even if a voter pressed the button for a party other than the BJP, the vote was polled to the ruling party.