Viral video showing BJP leader’s minor son casting vote triggers row in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL — A video has gone viral on social media showing a minor boy casting vote at a polling booth in Madhya Pradesh, triggering a political controversy in the state.

In the purported video, the boy could be seen voting at a polling booth in Bhopal’s Berasia. The boy is said to be the son of a district BJP leader named Vinay Mehar.

The video shows the boy pressing the button on the EVM while his father is busy filming the act, which he later shared on Facebook. The BJP leader, however, deleted the video later after it sparked a political controversy on Thursday.

Voting in Bhopal, along with eight other Lok Sabha seats in the state, was held on May 7.

An FIR has been registered against Mehar in this matter.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has suspended three poll officials, including the returning officer named Sandeep Saini, in connection with the case.

While the state Congress has claimed that the BJP is making a mockery of the election process, a senior BJP functionary in Bhopal, Rajneesh Agrwal, said, “We have not received any such complaint. The Congress has filed a complaint with the EC and it’s up to the poll panel to investigate the matter.”

During the second phase of LS polls on April 26, a presiding officer in Jabalpur was suspended after he clicked photographs inside a polling booth and shared them on WhatsApp.