Police constable who made postal ballot paper pictures viral suspended

A Mumbai police constable was suspended for sharing a photo of his postal ballot online, violating voting secrecy rules during assembly elections.

Mumbai: A police constable attached with Sewri police station was suspended for violating rules related to secrecy of voting by sharing online a photo of his postal ballot during the recently held assembly elections in the state. The constable is booked by the JJ Marg police station.

Police constable who made postal ballot paper pictures viral suspended

The Election Commission (EC) had set up seven facilitation centres for postal voting in Mumbai for policemen to cast their votes before the election date as they would be busy on duty then. These centres were in Colaba, Malabar Hill, Mumbadevi, Byculla, Sewri, Dharavi and Sion-Koliwada.

According to the police, the accused constable, Riyaz Pathan, voted for the Koregaon Assembly constituency, Satara district, through the postal voting system at the Byculla centre. After casting his vote, he took the picture of the ballot paper to share it with his friend in Satara, and it was later circulated to multiple people. Pathan, despite being aware of the restrictions in the centre regarding mobile phones, he clicked the picture and shared it with his friends, said the officer. Once it was circulated to many people, it finally came to the notice of the election officer at Satara district, who approached the Mumbai police.

A case was registered against Pathan in JJ Marg police station on November 17 as the Byculla centre was in its jurisdiction, added the officer.

The case was registered under section 223 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 128 (maintenance of secrecy of voting) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, on November 17.

After conducting an inquiry, the coastal police found that he broke the rules and served a notice. He was suspended two three days ago, added a senior police officer.

Similarly, the Gamdevi police had registered a case against constable Ganesh Shinde last month for sharing photographs of his ballot paper with his relatives in Beed, which went viral. He was suspended a week ago.