Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission has initiated an expeditious investigation into the allegations against Prasanta Jagadev, the BJP candidate for the Khurda Assembly constituency and current MLA of Chilika. Jagadev has been accused of damaging an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), a case has been registered against him and he is currently detained in Khurda Jail.
Despite his arrest, the charges against Jagadev have not been proven. The incident occurred during the recent polling on the 25th when Jagadev went to cast his vote in his village, Kaunripatna under Bolgad police station. A commotion ensued within the booth, leading to accusations of Jagadev breaking the EVM. Jagadev denied these allegations and demanded to check the video footage. However, the police detained him without checking the footage, and he was subsequently arrested and sent to jail.
Meanwhile, a video of the incident has surfaced on social media, but it has not been officially reviewed. In response, the Chief Electoral Officer has directed the District Election Officer of Khurda to investigate the matter.
The CEO’s office said that live webcasting had been set up in 60 booths on the 25th, which was monitored by the CEO, DEO and Returning Officer. The DEO is in charge of the webcasting system. Then why and how the video footage circulating on social media asked the CEO and ordered to investigate the origin of the video.
