CHENNAI: Praveen Kumar, a photographer, wrapped up his shoot soon just so he could go early and cast his vote at a polling station in Porur. Upon arriving at the polling booth, he was informed that someone had already cast the vote in his name. Speaking to TOI, Praveen said, “I was infuriated because how is it possible that 8-10 people in the room attested my allotted slip number and still gave the go-ahead to the person to cast their vote under my name. This person even verified the vote using the EPIC number.”When he insisted on the CCTV footage, polling officials asked Praveen to vote under the same slip and that they would ‘cancel the false vote’. “I had no other go, but to do this,” he added. Frustrated with his situation, Praveen took to Instagram and posted a reel explaining his situation. Several netizens voiced similar concerns in the comments from areas such as Pallavaram, Poonamallee and Medavakkam. Netizens tagged the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) demanding for the issue to be investigated.Similar claims were also made by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tamilisai Soundarajan at St Francis Xavier Middle School in Alwarpet, where BJP and DMK workers clashed over fake votes being cast on Wednesday.
