The Mahisagar district police apprehended him and three others. They were charged with not just booth capturing and bogus voting but also assaulting and threatening the Congress’ polling agent in Gothib village during the May 7 voting. Vijay Bhabhor, a BJP member and son of a local BJP leader in Santrampur, Mahisagar district, was arrested for live-streaming his fraudulent voting at Partampur polling station under Dahod Lok Sabha constituency..
Though Bhabhor has been granted bail in both cases of bogus voting and assault of a Congress polling agent, Bhabhor remains in preventive police custody ahead of the repolling scheduled for Saturday at Parthampur polling station.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) nullified the voting at Parthampur polling station after the viral video showed Bhabhor’s irregularities, based on reports from the returning officer and observer.
Inspector K K Bhuval said, and I quote, “We arrested Bhabhor in the polling station video case on Wednesday, and he was granted bail by the court. On Thursday, he was again arrested concerning an FIR lodged on May 8. As the offence was bailable, he was again granted bail.”
“However, given the gravity of the offence of bogus voting, we have kept him in preventive custody under Section 151 of CrPC to ensure that he does not indulge in any unlawful act during repolling on Saturday,” the officer added.
Following a complaint lodged by Shana Taviyad, the polling agent for Congress’ Dahod candidate Dr Prabha Taviyad, on May 7, the Santrampur police initiated legal action against Vijay Bhabhor and three others: Pawan Agarwal, Piyush Bhavsar, and Prakash Rumal Katara, a member of the district panchayat.
According to Taviyad’s statement, the accused allegedly assaulted him while he was returning home from the polling station, claiming he had obstructed their attempt to engage in fraudulent voting. Taviyad, the polling agent in booth 11 of Gothib village on May 7, asserted that the accused tried to enter the polling area around 3 p.m. to cast illegitimate votes.
He further said, “stalled their attempt and asked them to return. They abused and threatened me with dire consequences and said they would deal with me after I completed my polling day duties in the evening…
As I left from the polling station in the evening to return home, the four accused arrived in a vehicle and accosted me. They punched me multiple times and attempted to abduct me, but I managed to escape and reported the incident to a police officer I found on the way…” Vijay Bhabhor was arrested under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (insulting to threaten peace), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), and 114 (present when the offence is committed).
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On May 7, Bhabhor spent five minutes inside the polling booth, during which he live-streamed on Instagram. In a video lasting over four minutes, later removed from social media platforms, he disregarded warnings from polling officials while focusing the camera on the EVM and VVPAT.
“give us 10 minutes, we are sitting here… Only the BJP can run (here). he is heard saying in Gujarati, “The machine belongs to our father.” He also claimed to cast multiple votes, asked the other voters to press the BJP’s lotus symbol, and said he was “in control.” of the area.
According to reports, Mahisagar SP Jaydeepsinh Jadeja on Wednesday said that Bhabhor and Magan were BJP members and that the father, Ramesh, is a former president of the Santrampur taluka panchayat.
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