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Agence France-Presse

An Indian man chopped off his index finger in desperation after voting for the wrong party in the country’s national election.
Pawan Kumar became confused by the symbols on the electronic voting machine and voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party instead of its regional rival in Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday, his brother told AFP.
Distraught, the 25-year-old Kumar went home and chopped off his finger with a meat cleaver.
Even though votes are cast electronically at polling stations, the index finger of every voter is marked with indelible ink after they cast ballots, to make sure they do not vote again.
“He was very happy that he was voting for the first time ever,” Kumar’s brother Kailash Chandra told AFP by phone.
“But once he realised his mistake, he was so distraught that he chopped off his inked finger.”

“Every time he saw his ink-marked finger, he felt angry.”
Chandra said the family rushed Kumar to the hospital, and videos circulating online showed the first-time voter sporting a bandaged hand standing over the butcher’s knife outside a toilet.
“I wanted to vote for elephant but it went to flower,” Kumar says on one video, adding that he had not been pressured to cast his ballot for a particular party.




The lotus is the symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party while the Bahujan Samaj Party, part of an alliance fighting Modi in the northern state, uses the elephant. The party symbol is used on voting machines along with the candidate’s photographs.
Thursday was the second day of India’s marathon election which started on April 11 and runs through to May 19.


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Indian man amputates his own finger after accidentally voting for the wrong party in national election

An Indian voter gets his finger marked with ink as he votes at a polling station in Chennai, during the second phase of the mammoth Indian elections. Photo: AFP

A polling officer puts an ink mark on an Indian tribal voter's finger before he casts his vote for the first phase of India's general election in Ukhrul district in the northeastern state of Manipur on April 11, 2019. - India's gargantuan election, the biggest in history, kicked off on April 11 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term from the South Asian behemoth's 900 million voters. (Photo by DEEPAK SHIJAGURUMAYUM / AFP)

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An Indian voter gets her finger marked with ink at a polling station in Uttar Pradesh to show she has voted. Photo: AFP

In this Monday, April 8, 2019, photo, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP's manifesto for the upcoming general elections in New Delhi, India. Modi came to power in 2014 promising big-ticket economic reforms. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

epa07498491 Supporters dance as senior congress leader and former congress president Sonia Gandhi arrives to file her elections nomination in Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, India, 11 April 2019. Sonia Gandhi filed her nominations papers from Raebareli for upcoming parliamentary elections as parliamentary elections in India will be held in seven phases between 11 April and 19 May 2019. Elections for India's 545-member lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha, are held every five years. EPA-EFE/PRABHAT KUMAR VERMA

epa07498031 People hold their ID cards as they queue up to cast their votes at a polling station in Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, 11 April 2019. Polling for the first phase of parliamentary or general elections started in various states in India for India's 545-member lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha that is held every five years. EPA-EFE/HARISH TYAGI

In this Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018 photo, a man holds a brick reading "Jai Shree Ram" (Victory to Lord Ram) as bricks of the old Babri Mosque are piled up in Ayodhya Uttar Pradesh, India. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, speaks with Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh state Yogi Adityanath during an election campaign rally in Meerut, India, Thursday, March 28, 2019. India's general elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India election: like the profit margins on a lassi, Modi’s magic has evaporated

Politics is the talk of the town in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, only recently divided from one another. Photo: Team Ceritalah

140 million of 900 million eligible voters went to the poll on 11 April 2019. This marks the first phase voting in the Indian election. Photo: Reuters

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Asia

East Asia

Pawan Kumar, 25, became confused by the symbols on the electronic voting machine and voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party instead of its regional rival


Pawan Kumar, 25, became confused by the symbols on the electronic voting machine and voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party instead of its regional rival.


Narendra Modi

Asia elections