Chairman of Pradesh Co-operative Cold Storage Federation (having the status of a minister of state), Totaram Yadav was charged with bogus voting at Raipur poll booth and an FIR was lodged against him at at Bewar police station of Mainpuri. The action followed directions from the State Election Commission which also ordered repoll at the Raipur booth.
Besides Yadav, another FIR was lodged against seven cops who were on poll duty at the polling booth and four others including the Presiding Officer a the booth.
Yadav, a candidate for the member of district panchayat from Bewar block was caught on cameras casting bogus votes while the police and poll officials looked on at the booth in second phase of the polls on October 13. Soon the video became viral on t he social media.
Known for Rsfoot in mouth’ disease, Yadav had hit the headlines in June when he said that there was nothing called rape and whatever transpired is with the consent of the girl and the boy. He had also acvised the media to not malign the SP government by terming it as dip in law and order in UP.
Meanwhile, Yadav denied the bogus voting incident, terming the video as a conspiracy by his rivals and claimed that he never visited the particular polling station on October 13.
Condemning the act of Yadav, BJP spokesman Vijay Pathak said that the video proved that irregularities and booth capturing was rampant across the state under the patronage of SP government. He urged the SEC to order a high level probe into the incident and take stern action against the minister.