HIGHER TURNOUT IN MP ELECTIONS; CONG COMPLAINS OF FAULTY EVMS

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh recorded a turnout of 74.61% as of 10pm, a rise of nearly 2.5 percentage points from the last assembly elections in 2013, even as complaints of malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and sporadic incidents of violence marred polling day in some parts of the largest of the five states going to polls.

The turnout figure might jump by another two percentage points once numbers come in from farflung districts, chief election officer V Kantha Rao said. The Congress, which is looking to dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power after 15 years, complained that faulty EVMs in several areas stopped voters from exercising their franchise.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath demanded a repoll in booths where machines had malfunctioned and campaign committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia wrote to chief election commissioner OP Rawat over the delayed voting and faulty EVM machines.

“The rate at which EVM machines are malfunctioning is alarming… several voters are demotivated when they experience incomplete arrangements and may lose faith in this exercise if they come across allegations of tampering with EVM machines,” Scindia’s letter said.

Rao said 2,126 Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, 881 control units and 883 ballot units had to be replaced across the state.

The highest turnout was recorded in Shajapur, 82%, and the lowest was in the tribal-dominated district of Alirajpur, 63%. In the epicentre of farm distress, Mandsaur, where six farmers died in police firing last year, 81.27% polling was reported. In 2013, it was 78.55%.