Rahul heckled in Amethi, could face trouble for entering voting area

A nervous Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who parked himself in Amethi on polling day for the first time in his three elections would have been dismayed to see hecklers target him outside a polling station in his constituency on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_1507993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi. AFP.[/caption] Traditionally a family pocket borough, the BJP took the battle to the Congress doorstep in Amethi this year with a Narendra Modi rally in Gauriganj. Reflecting the anti-Congress mood in the constituency, Gandhi was reportedly heckled and questioned by voters as he travelled from one polling station to another in his constituency on polling day. A report in The Indian Express quotes a voter at the Chilauli Singhpur booth as saying she had seen him after 10 years. On being told he had been visiting, she reportedly said: “Aaj to aap yahan apne swarth ke liye aye hain.” (You have come here today for your own benefit.) At some booths a Har Har Modi chant was taken up as he entered, while elsewhere traditional Congress voters told journalists they were voting against their sitting MP this time. The Opposition has drummed up support for its theory that Rahul Gandhi is facing a severe anti-incumbency in Amethi, which he won by more than 3.7 lakh votes in 2009. That Gandhi chose to spend the day in Amethi only provided more fodder for the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party, which claimed he had made the move in panic. Additionally, Rahul courted controversy by being photographed inside a booth and staring at a polling machine while a person who appeared to be a voter waited about one foot away. According to The Times of India, Rahul could have violated the law by entering the voting compartment, the closeted area where the EVM machine is kept. He did so in at least three booths during polling hours. The report identified the booths as Ashtabhuja Vidyalaya in Sahamau, Prathamik Vidyalaya Koora and Madhyamik Vidyalaya Phoola, all of them in the Tiloi Assembly segment of Amethi. “Only three people can access the voting compartment: the voter, presiding officer and polling officer,” said the report. It is the presiding officer who is held responsible for breach of the law.