Minors caught in voting booth with fake identity cards

The ongoing elections in Uttar Pradesh face a new twist. A polling booth had some unexpected visitors. Here are the details of the report.

Eight teenagers, including girls (aged between 12 and 16 years), were caught at a polling booth in Agra when they came to vote for a candidate during the municipal polls showing Aadhaar cards which were issued on Wednesday morning by a UIDAI enrolment agency owned by the candidate’s spouse contesting civic polls.

Police detained six teenagers, as one had successfully cast his vote, while the other attempted to use the allegedly fake Aadhaar card to cast his vote. The other six teenagers were caught before they could vote. Interestingly, all the eight had their names on the voters’ list.

The incident took place in polling booth of ward number 55 of Shahdara under Itmad-ud-daula police jurisdiction. All the eight teenagers hailed from Nagla Bihari Bholai Mohmmadpur village.

A 14-year-old teenager who owned two Aadhaar cards with different dates of birth and was caught by election duty officers, said, “I was sleeping in my home when a regional political party agents came to me and handed over a new Aadhaar card and told me to go and vote for their candidate.”

When asked, if they were given any money for it, the teenager denied.

Another 15-year-old teenager who succeeded to cast his vote said, “Hundreds of other boys and girls were given new updated Aadhaar card in the morning hour and were asked to vote in favor of a woman candidate.”

According to sources, husband of a woman candidate, who is contesting for the councilor post from Ward 55, runs six agencies of UIDAI enrolment. A proper setup was made in Nagla Bihari Bholai Mohmmadpur village, where the Aadhaar cards of teenagers were updated with new date births. Interestingly, the names of teenagers were also available on the voter list of the election commission.

Seeing such large number of discrepancy, circle officer of Chatta, DSP Sanjay Kumar along with the police force raided the village, but before that, the entire UIDAI enrolment setup was removed.

Additional city magistrate II, Prithimesh Kumar said, “Teenagers were caught with fake Aadhaar who came to vote. One of the teenagers even managed to cast his vote.”

“A probe has been called to find the real culprit behind this mess. Meanwhile, police have detained the teenagers,” he added.