• 7 months ago

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Transcript
00:00Nearly 200 kilometers from Delhi, this village Obery in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh
00:06is still haunted by the events of election day.
00:10Look at this.
00:12On the 7th of May, over 10 cars full of policemen entered this polling station, chasing out
00:18the voters.
00:19More than 200 people were beaten up allegedly for having fake election documents.
00:25They beat me and took my election card.
00:28When she was beaten up, she was hit on her leg.
00:32They were thrashing even old people, women, everyone.
00:35Here, with almost 5,000 voters being Muslims, villagers say they know why they were targeted.
00:43No one was Hindu.
00:44Everyone who was beaten up was Muslim.
00:46There were at least 30 to 40 people.
00:48They all had sticks and rods and they just started beating us indiscriminately.
00:52Voting is my right.
00:53That's why I went back and still voted.
00:56It's not the only attack on Muslims during this election.
01:00Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accused of spreading hate against minority communities
01:06through his speeches.
01:08Social activists like Shabnam Hashmi blame the Election Commission of India for not taking
01:13action against it.
01:15They have launched a campaign to encourage voters to send hundreds of postcards to the
01:20chief of polling body.
01:22Their message is, grow a spine or resign.
01:26If they had a spine, they would feel embarrassed.
01:29They don't because they are not doing anything.
01:31They are all appointed by this present government without any fair process and they are delivering
01:36what the government wants.
01:38This former chief election commissioner is concerned about the credibility of the institute
01:44which he helped grow.
01:45It hurts me no end.
01:46There was a time when this was the most trusted institution, even more than the judiciary
01:52and any damage to its trust is very damaging for the country.
01:57With the Election Commission remaining silent against violation complaints, a growing number
02:02of voters doubt whether it can be called a free and fair election.

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