Delhi assembly elections: Police to probe case on 'false EVM info'

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday allowed police to investigate a case against a man who allegedly shared a video on social media, claiming that EVM/VVPAT machines brought to his area for a demonstration ahead of the assembly elections were not showing correct vote count.
Judge Abhilash Malhotra was acting on a plea by police seeking permission to investigate the case.The court allowed the station house officer, Sabzi Mandi police station to investigate the case.
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Police required the court's permission as the case was registered for non-cognisable offences. Section 155 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 provides that in case of a non-cognisable offence, the police officer cannot receive or record the FIR unless he obtains prior permission from the magistrate.
A junior assistant at a polling centre at Delhi's Timarpur had approached police to register a case. His complaint stated that while on election duty he was giving a demo of EVM/VVPAT machines to raise awareness among residents.
According to the complaint, a resident there cast three votes but claimed that the total vote count was five and raised an objection. He then recorded a video of the incident too. The complainant, however, reasoned with the man saying two other people had taken a demo before him and as a result the voting machine had shown five votes. The man was again given a demonstration to show him the exact number of votes. Despite this, the man posted a video on social media claiming that EVM/VVAPT was not showing the correct vote count.