Election Commission orders repolling at 48 stations in Punjab on February 9
Several EVMs and Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail machines had developed a snag on Saturday, when the votes were cast.
The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered repolling at 48 polling stations in Punjab on February 9 problems with the Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail and Electronic Voting Machines on February 4, PTI reported. The re-elections will be held at 32 polling stations in the Majitha, Muktsar, Sangrur Assembly segments and 16 stations in the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.
Punjab Cabinet Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Bikram Singh Majithia is fighting it out with Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sukhjinder Raj Singh and Congress candidate Himmat Singh Shergill from the Majitha seat. BJP’s Rajindermohan Singh Chhina, Congress’ GS Aujla and AAP’s Upkar Sandhu have been fielded from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
The VVPATs used in the Majitha, Muktsar and Sangrur Assemblies and the EVMs used in the Moga and Sadulgarh constituencies were found to be faulty, Punjab chief electoral officer VK Singh told PTI. The officer said that VVPATs will be used again in the repoll. “A total of 47 VVPATs will be deployed at the polling stations and sufficient numbers of machines have been kept as reserve,” Singh added.
A VVPAT produces a receipt with which the voter can verify if the vote actually went to the person for whom they voted on the EVM. These machines are being used for the first time in Punjab at over 6,500 polling stations. However, on the polling day, 187 VVPATs had to be replaced.
The polling hours will be between 8 am and 5pm. The poll panel has ordered paid leave in the constituencies that will undergo a repoll on February 9.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted: ”Never has any election seen malfunctioning EVMs on such a large scale. Was it mischief done deliberately by or in collusion with EC?”
In Goa
On February 5, the Election Commission also ordered repolling in a booth in South Goa’s Aquem after officials, posted at one of the booths, failed to delete sample votes registered on the machine, IANS reported. The rules make it mandatory for sample votes to be deleted. The repoll has been scheduled for February 7.
“Please ensure that wide publicity about the repolling is done,” the commission told Goa’s chief electoral officer.