By Srijit Das
An old video of a man slamming an EVM control unit on the floor during the Karnataka Assembly elections has been revived with a misleading claim that the incident is recent and took place during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
BOOM found that the incident occurred in Mysuru on May 10, 2023, during the Karnataka Assembly elections.
In the 59-second footage, a man can be seen signing the register. The situation then quickly escalates as he forcefully grabs the EVM control unit and hurls it to the ground. Polling officers and police personnel then immediately rush in to prevent him from doing further damage.
Right-wing X handle Megh Updates shared the video with a caption, "Presiding officers and security teams should be careful and alert...they can do anything due to the fear of defeat."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video is also being shared with Hindi caption that translates to, "Presiding officer should be cautious... out of frustration of defeat these Indi Alliance people can do anything..."
(Original Text in Hindi: पीठासीन अधिकारी सतर्क रहें... हार की खीझ से ये इंडी एलायंस वाले कुछ भी हरकत कर सकते हैं...)
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a related keyword search and found the same video was aired by several news outlets during the Karnataka Assembly elections, which happened last year.
The video was reported by Kannada news outlet Vijayavani on May 12, 2023, stating that the incident took place in Mysuru during the assembly polls in Karnataka.
The video report indicates that the incident occurred on May 10, 2023, according to the time stamp on the CCTV footage.
Following that lead, we ran a related keyword search and found a report by The Hindu covering the incident.
According to The Hindu article published on May 12, 2023, "A man, who came to cast his vote during polling on May 10 and instead damaged the EVM control unit in Mysuru, is suspected by the police to be mentally unsound. The incident came to light after a delay when videos of a man grabbing the EVM control unit and banging it on the ground went viral on Friday."
The report identifies the individual as Shivamurthy, 48 years old, who allegedly damaged the EVM control unit at a polling booth situated in Hootagalli, part of the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency.
The Hindu also reached out to then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Muthuraj, who said that the individual is believed to suffer from an unsound mind, and a case was registered under Section 84 of the IPC. The report also mentioned that the police requested for a medical evaluation of the man's mental health before proceeding with any actions against him.
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