The world’s largest democracy has officially seen its general election through to a close last week, with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi declared as the victor after being re-elected for a second term. Around 600 million voters from all parts of the nation took to the polls which took place from 11th to 19th May in seven phases during the election process.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also extended his congratulations to the Indian prime minister on another five years in office on Sunday (26th May).
Source: YouTube
While votes were being counted last Thursday (23rd May), a video of one election candidate in the state of Punjab began to circulate online. The video shows independent candidate Neetu Shutteran Wala crying while being interviewed by a journalist after reportedly receiving only 5 votes. According to India Today, he tearfully told the reporter,
“Sir, despite having nine members in (my) family, I got only five votes.”
Iss independent candidate ko total 5 votes padi hain aur iske ghar mein 9 log hain??????????? pic.twitter.com/E6f9HJXCYA
— Rishav Sharma (@rishav_sharma1) May 23, 2019
However, a fact check by the news portal later revealed that the interview took place while votes were still being counted, and Neetu Shutteran Wala actually received 856 votes in the final tally, according to India’s election commission website. He reportedly garnered 0.08% of votes in his constituency.
Source: India Today
Well, while it’s clear he didn’t win his constituency, we hope this politician feels a little better knowing he garnered more than just 5 votes!
Also read: 272 Staff Dead & 1,878 Sick After Counting Millions of Votes in Indonesian Election
