Man chops off his finger in India after voting for wrong party

An Indian voter has seemingly taken drastic measures after casting his ballot for the wrong party, by chopping off his finger.

The man who meant to vote for the regional Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) cut off his finger after he wrongly voted for the nationally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the second phase of parliamentary polls 2019. 

Pawan Kumar, said he accidentally pressed the wrong the button.

"I accidentally pressed the button having Lotus symbol instead of an elephant. I chopped my finger for the mistake," he told news agency ANI.

He cut off the digit marked with the indelible ink to show he had voted, according to media reports and an online video apparently showing the aftermath.

Mr Kumar, who is from a village in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, said he voted for the BJP's sitting lawmaker Bhola Singh instead of the Bahujan Samaj Party's Yogesh Verma.

The widely-shared video shows Mr Kumar sitting on a chair with his index finger wrapped in bandage. When asked if he was forced to press on the BJP button, he said no.

Mr Verma was fielded by the alliance of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The BJP's Bhola Singh got a notice from the Election Commission  after he was seen campaigning at an election booth in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr in another video.

Meanwhile, in a shock move a spokeswoman for India's main opposition Congress party quit on Friday and joined rightwing Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena, complaining of aggresion towards her by male party members was ignored.

The resignation of Priyanka Chaturvedi, a regular on prime-time TV debates, is an embarrassing setback for Congress in the middle of a general election, and again raises the contentious issue of the treatment of women in India.

"A serious incident and misbehaviour against me by certain party members while I was on official duty for the party has been ignored under the guise of all hands needed for elections," Chaturvedi wrote in the letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and posted on Twitter.

The next round of voting will be on April 23. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.