Protests broke out within the Indian state of Maharashtra after misinformation unfold that the election fee declared a candidate from the opposition Congress social gathering acquired no votes in state elections in November. The false declare was fanned by wider accusations of fraud within the polls, however official data offered by the Election Fee of India (ECI) present the candidate Kunalbaba Rohidas Patil acquired 1,057 votes within the village the place he ran.
“Villagers who voted for the Congress are protesting because the outcomes confirmed zero votes for Congress,” Indian opposition lawmaker Varsha Eknath Gaikwad wrote in a November 25 publish on X, the place she has greater than 470,000 followers.
She reshared a video with a caption saying it reveals Patil’s supporters protesting after the ECI purportedly stated he acquired zero votes within the village of Awadhan in Maharashtra elections.
Screenshot of the false publish, taken on December 9
The false declare surfaced amid accusations of fraud from the Congress social gathering after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP)’s alliance received a landslide victory within the state election, taking 235 out of 288 seats (archived hyperlink).
Congress stated it had filed a grievance over what it referred to as “evident discrepancies” in voter turnout information, claiming seven million votes have been recorded throughout the final hour of voting — which the ECI denied (archived right here and right here).
Patil advised AFP the video genuinely reveals an illustration by supporters who have been misled by the false declare he bought zero votes within the polls, and that he had travelled to the protest website to attempt to purpose with them.
Official data from the ECI confirmed he acquired 1,057 votes on the polling stations talked about within the false declare.
Disputed declare
Jitendra Papalkar, district Justice of the Peace of the Dhule district, advised AFP on November 28 that official data present Patil acquired “greater than a thousand votes” in his constituency.
“The Election Fee is working with full impartiality, so please keep away from rumours,” he stated.
Papalkar referred AFP to a number of posts by Dhule authorities that rebuked the false declare.
One of many posts printed by the District Data Workplace in Dhule on November 26 stated “rumours and deceptive details about the statistics of #Awadhan polling station in #Dhule Rural constituency are being unfold on social media” (archived hyperlink).
The thread added that Patil acquired 227, 234, 252 and 344 votes respectively on the 4 polling stations within the village, totalling 1,057 ballots out of the two,881 forged at these stations.
The Dhule Rural Electoral Registration workplace additionally shared on November 25 the vote depend of every candidate at these polling stations, which matched the numbers offered by the Dhule authorities (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot of the Dhule Rural Electoral Registration workplace publish on X exhibiting polling outcomes
Patil additionally advised AFP that the declare that he bought zero votes within the Awadhan village was false.
“Individuals have been protesting in confusion so I went amongst them and defined to them, I’ll have gotten fewer votes than I anticipated however individuals voted for me at that sales space too,” he stated.
