Is This a Video of People Destroying EVMs Found in BJP Leader’s Car? No!
Vijayapura SP Anand Kumar told The Quint that election officials were carrying extra EVMs, which locals destroyed.
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A video showing a group of people breaking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), while taking number plates off and overturning a car has gone viral on social media.
What are users claiming?: The video is being shared claiming that the EVMs were found in a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader's car in Karnataka, after which locals attacked the car and destroyed the machine.
The claim comes against the backdrop of the Karnataka Assembly elections, polling for which took place on 10 May, and the results will be announced on 13 May.
Who shared the claim?: Gujarat Congress' Chairman for the Scheduled Castes Department Hitendra Pithadiya, shared the claim on his Twitter account, among other social media users.
(Archives of posts making the viral claim on social media can be seen here, here, here, and here.)
But...?: The claim is misleading.
The video shows locals in Masabinal village in Karnataka's Vijayapura district destroying additional EVMs that were being transported in a car by election officials.
Speaking to The Quint, Vijayapura SP Anand Kumar said that "people mistook that EVM machines were being illegally carried before the conclusion of polling and destroyed it."
How did we find out?: A keyword search led us to news reports by The Hindu and Outlook.
They mentioned that the video was from Masabinal village in Karnataka's Vijayapura district.
Elections officials were transporting two spare EVMs in a car when people damaged the machines and toppled the car, thinking that the EVMs were being taken away before polling had completed, the reports added.
What did the police say?: Speaking to The Quint, Vijayapura SP Anand Kumar said that additional EVMs were being transported by some election officials when the incident happened, adding that 15 persons had been taken into custody.
The Quint also accessed a press note issued by the office of Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer on 10 May.
It read that around 12:30 pm, some election officials were carrying reserve EVMs and VVPATs (voter verified paper-audit trails) from a strong room in the Basavana Bagewadi constituency to Masabinal, when around "100-150 public stopped their temple."
According to the note, 24 people were arrested from the spot after which polling went on smoothly.
The press note issued by the Chief Electoral Officer's office in Karnatka.
(Source: Accessed by The Quint)
Conclusion: A car in which election officials were carrying spare EVMs was attacked by locals in Karnataka's Masabinal village, who thought that the machines were being transported before polling had concluded.
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