TIRUPATTUR: A Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) cadre was arrested on charges of recording a video of himself casting his vote for TVK’s whistle symbol in a polling booth in Tirupattur constituency and posting it on social media. The arrested man has been identified as S Sakthivel, 35.Sakthivel managed to enter the polling booth with his mobile phone. He made a video of himself casting his vote for TVK. He later edited the video into a ‘reel’ and posted it on various social media platforms to declare his political allegiance. The ECI’s social media monitoring team identified the breach. The team reviewed the CCTV footage from the particular polling station.The commission confirmed the identity of the person after matching social media footage with the timing and location seen on the booth’s security cameras. Police booked him under relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act for violating the secrecy of the ballot following a complaint from poll officials. The district election officials said recording or photographing a marked ballot is a punishable offence that can lead to imprisonment. They have formed several monitoring teams to scan social media for similar violations. They have instructed officers to be more rigorous in ensuring voters do not enter the booths with electronic devices.
