A voter says he chopped off his index finger after realising he had voted for the “wrong” political party. The Indian man named Pawan Kumar says he accidentally ended up voting for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a video that has gone viral.
He wanted to vote for a regional party – but was confused by the many symbols on the voting machine. Every voter’s index finger is marked with indelible ink after they cast their ballot. He cast his vote on Thursday in Bulandshahr in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. This was the second phase of polling in the Indian general election.
“I wanted to vote for the elephant, but I voted for the flower by mistake,” Mr Kumar can be heard saying in the video. He is referring to the party symbols displayed on the voting machine next to the name of each candidate.
While the BJP’s symbol is a lotus, the elephant is the symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a regional heavyweight that has allied with two other regional parties against the BJP.
