By Nivedita Niranjankumar
A viral video showing an angry mob attacking a car and destroying electronic voting machines (EVMs) found inside in Vijayapura district of Karnataka is being shared with a false claim that the machines were found in a Bharatiya Janata Party leader's car.
BOOM found that the incident is from polling day on May 10, 2023 from Vijayapura (Bijapur) district in Karnataka when a mob surrounded an Election Commission vehicle transporting spare EVMs from one location to another and attacked it under the impression that the officials had prematurely stopped the polling.
The video is being shared with text in English and Hindi claiming that the mob attacked the car because a BJP MLA was taking away EVM machines from a polling booth. The text reads, "BJP MLA caught by mob with an EVM machine. Mob created ruckus. How did it happen? Vote for Congress - Don't Vote for BJP"
Hitendra Pithadiya, Chairman Indian National Congress Gujarat Scheduled Caste Department tweeted the video making the same false claim in Hindi. The tweet text translates to, "Locals create ruckus after EVM machine was found in a BJP leader's vehicle"
(Original text in Hindi - BJP नेता के गाड़ी में EVM मशीन पकड़े जाने पर स्थानिय लोगों ने किया हंगामा!!)
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that that video is from a polling day incident in Vijayapura district of Karnataka. A keyword search for 'public destroys EVM machines in car' led us to several news reports about the incident, carrying the same visuals.
The Hindu reported, "Tension prevailed in Masabinal in Vijayapura district on Wednesday after a mob damaged EVM machines and toppled an officer‘s car, wrongly believing that officials had taken the ballot unit away, after stopping polling midway. They damaged two ballot units, two control units and three VVPAT machines."
The report also carried a photo of the same vehicle as in the viral video.
We then contacted H D Ananda Kumar Superintendent of police, Vijayapura who said that they had arrested 34 people for vandalising a government vehicle. Ananda Kumar said that "the mob attacked an Election Commission vehicle carrying spare EVMs thinking they were active ones and that polling had been stopped prematurely." He further added, "The mob acted on a rumour that the officials had stopped polling in the afternoon itself before 6pm. They were angry and surrounded the vehicle after they saw it being loaded with EVMs"
The Vijayapura police have registered an offence and further investigations are on.
The District Election Officer, Vijay Mahanthesh B told BOOM that the viral claim was false. "It was an Election Commission vehicle and marked as such too. It had three people inside - the sector officer, EC staff and an armed policeperson (gunman). The sector officer - Malappa Hanamantappa Yerajari of sector number 5 with staff was transporting spare EVMs from Basavana Bagewadi strong room and headed towards Masabinal. At the Masabinal village, their vehicle was stopped and locals started abusing them following which a scuffle broke out. The crowd damaged the EVMs and VVPAT machines thinking they were being carried away to stop polling. Our officers tried reasoning with the locals but sensing a threat, the police were called."
He added, "The machines and other polling materials in the vehicle were spare ones which we keep to replace any malfunctioning ones. It is a routine process and the same was being done on that day. The vehicle was an Election Commission car designated and marked clearly too."
