Lok Sabha polls: Congress and Samajwadi Party complain to Election Commission about EVM glitches
The Congress registered 30 complaints with the poll body about alleged glitches in voting machines in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra that went to polls.
The Congress on Monday registered 30 complaints with the Election Commission about alleged glitches in electronic voting machines in all the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra that went to polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, PTI reported.
Most of the complaints came in from Dhule and Nandurbar districts, prompting Congress’ alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party state chief Jayant Patil to claim that “something fishy” was going on in the two seats.
“The districts like Dhule and Nandurbar are bastions of the Congress,” he tweeted. “There is definitely something wrong if EVM malfunctioning complaints are coming from such places. There is something fishy!”
Technical problems with voting machines were also reported from Uttar Pradesh. In the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat – where the incumbent MP is Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav – a voting machine glitch reportedly stalled voting at a polling booth for three hours, the Samajwadi Party claimed.
The party alleged that in at least two polling booths the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine showed that votes cast for it had been registered for the Bharatiya Janata Party, PTI reported.
The Opposition party, which is contesting the elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, also urged the Election Commission to remove Uttar Pardesh police chief OP Singh from the post, accusing him of favouring the BJP. “The police are terrorising minority voters,” said party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury. “The force is being misused in favour of the BJP. We have apprised the CEO about it.”