Congress doubts EVMs used in MP

Randomization tests were conducted on seven of the 43 EVMs. It has been found that there were no data in these seven voting machines. We demand scrutiny of all the EVMs which reached late in the strong room

— Sandeep

Nablok, Congress spokesperson

Congress on Saturday demanded scrutiny of all the 43 “reserved EVMs” which took two days to reach collector’s office in Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh from a polling booth under Korai assembly constituency, barely 25 km away, after voting on November 28.

The EVMs were being carried in a school van, requisitioned by election commission, from the polling booth under Bandri police station in Korai, to district collector’s office in Sagar after the assembly elections in the constituency were over on November 28.

The ‘undue’ delay in ferrying of the “reserved EVMs” to the strong room has raised doubts among the Congress men.

However, the local district administration has clarified that they were reserved voting machines sent to the polling booth as standbys to replace the faulty machines, a normal procedure followed in the elections.

“Randomization tests were conducted on seven of the 43 EVMs. It has been found that there were no data in these seven voting machines. But, we demand scrutiny of all the EVMs which reached late in the strong room”, Congress spokesman Sandeep Nablok told this newspaper.

In a separate incident in the constituency, after the polling on November 28, two buses carrying 12 EVMs “broke down” near Jarukheda in the midnight. It took some time to arrange another vehicle to carry the voting machines to Sagar district collector’s office, raising doubts among the Congress men.

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi alleged that in Uttar Pradesh's Sarhanpur district there were discrepancies — such as erroneous deletion of names of voters on booth number 44. He said glaring anomalies were found in 98 of 100 forms on this booth and names of people.