Kolkata Police on Tuesday arrested Garga Chatterjee, leader of pro-Bengali advocacy organization ‘Bangla Pokkho’, on charges of allegedly spreading misleading information about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the recently held Assembly elections.
According to a senior police official, the case is based primarily on social media posts Chatterjee shared on polling day in which he raised doubts about the functioning of EVMs and questioned the credibility of the election process, PTI reported.
Speaking to reporters at Lalbazar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand said, “A complaint was lodged against him by the District Election Officer (DEO) of Kolkata North after which the cyber cell initiated action. He was summoned twice in connection with the matter but did not turn up and that is why he was arrested today.”
According to a report citing sources, he is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
Who is Garga Chatterjee?
Garga Chatterjee is an academic whose research spans multiple disciplines, with a particular focus on spatial perception. He received an MBBS degree from the Medical College, University of Calcutta, before completing his PhD at Harvard University in the Cognition, Brain and Behavior program at the Vision Sciences Laboratory under the direction of Ken Nakayama, according to the website of the Bengal Institute, a Dhaka-based “unique, transdisciplinary forum for the study and design of the environment”.
He later reportedly conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Pawan Sinha’s lab from 2011 to 2014. He also served as a lecturer at Lesley University between 2012 and 2013. Since 2015, Chatterjee has been a faculty member at the Indian Statistical Institute. He is also reportedly a regular commentator for several newspapers.
what exactly happened
According to police officer Garg, Chatterjee first raised concerns about alleged EVM malfunctions on April 23, during the first phase of polling, when polling reportedly started late in several booths due to technical problems.
In a Facebook post, Chatterjee questioned how EVMs could have errors in the morning after being tested the previous night. He also urged voters to check their VVPAT tickets carefully before leaving the polling booths after casting their vote.
Police said that on May 4, the day of counting of votes, Chatterjee again criticized the Election Commission of India on social media, alleging that the polling body was carrying out a “secret plan”.
A police officer said Chatterjee was arrested based on specific complaints accusing him of spreading misinformation and creating confusion about the election process.
