JOIN USThe Election Commission claimed there was no untoward incident in the capital and the polling took place smoothly. However, at least two rumours of poll related incidents did go viral.
In the first incident, it was claimed that Aam Aadmi Party’s North West Delhi candidate Rakhi Birla had to face protest in outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri after she jumped the queue to cast her vote.
Birla, who is also the MLA, had arrived at a polling booth in Mangolpuri U-Block at around 10 am.
Eyewitnesses claimed that the 27-year-old refused to stand in a long queue and was guided to the polling booth by her supporters.
It led to protest by some voters who claimed that her behaviour was not of an ‘aam aadmi’ but of a VIP. An officer at the control room of North West Delhi Parliamentary constituency confirmed the incident.
Birla refutes allegations
However, Birla refused the allegation and said fellow voters had allowed her to vote without any protest.
She was also supported by Kanjhawala Sub-Divisional Magistrate Anoop Thakur.
“I found out about the rumour on TV channels after I went to meet the presiding officer of the polling station. He did not report any such incident,” Thakur told Deccan Herald.
In the second incident, Bharatiya Janata Party’s South Delhi candidate Ramesh Bidhuri alleged that Aam Aadmi Party’s Col. Devindra Sehrawat had resorted to theatrics just a few hours before voting came to an end.
It is alleged that rumours were spread through TV channels and SMS’ that former BJP MLA SCL Gupta was hurt in a scuffle with his own party members at south east Delhi’s Sangam Vihar.
Bidhuri claimed that this was yet another criminal conspiracy by Aam Aadmi Party candidate to spoil the elections in the capital.
‘Cheap stunts’
“These cheap stunts do not go down well with the public and they are well aware of the truth. With Sehrawat bound to loose by a huge margin, he and his workers were trying every possibly trick to mislead the electorate of South Delhi,” Bidhuri said.
A complaint has also been filed with the returning officer of South Delhi constituency. “This is a criminal conspiracy to spoil the election and strict action be taken up against Sehrawat and news channels be directed not to telecast this news,” the complaint stated.