After snags, repoll in 73 Kairana booths today
LUCKNOW: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday ordered repoll in 73 polling stations of Kairana Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday after some voter-verified paper audit trail (VVAP) machines developed snags during Monday’s by-election, an official said.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT machines will be used in the repoll on all the booths.
Chief electoral officer (CEO) L Venkateshwar Lu said voting will start at 7 am and continue till 6pm.
The commission has allotted 500 extra VVPATs for the repoll and 20 engineers have been deployed to ensure there is no hiccup during polling.
Civil police and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) personnel have been deployed at the polling stations to maintain law and order, he said.
The Election Commission has directed the returning officer to publicise the repoll through public announcement, beating of drums and other modes of propagation.
The EC has ordered the repoll in 23 polling stations in Nakur assembly segment of Kairana Lok Sabha seat, 45 polling stations in Gangoh , one polling station in Thanabhawan and four polling stations in the Shamli assembly segment of the Lok Sabha seat.
During the by-election on Monday, complaints about dysfunctional VVPATs started pouring in with the start of voting at 7am. Polling officers changed 384 VVPATs and three EVMs after the faults came to light.
The leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) submitted memorandums to the chief electoral officer to protest against faults in the EVMs and disruption in polling.
The commission sought a report from chief electoral officer (CEO) L Venkateshwar Lu, as well as the returning officers of the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly constituencies. After a scrutiny of the reports, the commission ordered repoll in 73 polling stations.
The EC has also deployed general observers, police observer, expenditure observers, sector magistrates, zonal magistrates, static magistrates and micro observers to monitor the repolling.
Deputy inspector general (law and order) Praveen Kumar said adequate police force will be deployed at the 73 polling stations to ensure peaceful and fair polling.
AKHILESH ASKS PARTIES TO OPPOSE EVMS
A day after malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) marred the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday called for ballot paper voting because EVMs are a ‘threat to democracy’.
At a press conference at the state headquarters of the party, he also urged all opposition parties to unite against the use of EVMs in the elections.
“The SP has been demanding ballot-paper voting as the party and the people do not have faith in EVMs. Earlier, we had called an all-party meeting against the EVMs. The Congress did not attend it but now it is also raising voice against EVMs. We appeal to the Congress and all other parties to unite against EVMs,” Akhilesh said.