EVM malfunctioning complaints mar Kairana, Noorpur bypolls
WAR OF WORDS RLD, SP accuse BJP of tampering with voting machines, report issues to poll panel KAIRANA:
Voting in Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly by-elections on Monday was marred by complaints of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVM).
While opposition parties Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of tampering with voting machines to win election, BJP leaders said they were also surprised over malfunctioning of EVMs in such a big number and reported the matter to the Election Commission (EC). Over 43% polling was recorded till 4pm in Kairana Lok Sabha constituency while 47% votes were polled in Noorpur assembly constituency.
RLD candidate from Kairana Tabassum Hasan wrote a letter to the EC, alleging there were complaints that EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were not working in many booths. She also submitted a constituency-wise list of over 150 faulty EVMs to the EC. “Voters are being denied their rights but nobody is listening to our complaints,” she said.
Blaming the administration for delay in replacing faulty EVMs, Hasan said: “Most of the complaints of technical glitches are coming from Dalit and Muslim dominated areas. BJP leaders are adopting every tactic to stop my victory but people will foil their plans.” BJP’s incharge of Kairana election Devendra Singh said he was also surprised over malfunctioning of EVMs. “The allegation of opposition parties that BJP is tampering EVMs is baseless. It seems to be a technical problem,” said Singh
He claimed that EVMs at over a hundred booths in areas dominated by BJP supporters were also found faulty. “The party has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India as well as the state election commission,” Singh said.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Twitter that people should go out and vote though there were complaints of EVMs not working in “several places”. SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said 140 EVMs were tampered with in Noorpur and that similar reports have come in from Kairana. “The BJP wants to avenge its defeat in the earlier bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur anyhow and win the ongoing polls,” he said.
Complaints of technical glitches in EVMs started pouring in soon after polling began in Kairana at 7am. Leaders of opposition parties directed their agents and booth workers to file written complaints and receive the reply of the officers concerned in writing. They also asked the workers to collect details of all such EVMs so that the matter could be reported to the EC.
Similar reports were also received from Noorpur where the SP claimed more than 140 EVMs did not function properly.
Additional district magistrate, Shamli, Kunwar Bahadur Singh said VVPAT attached to EVMs developed snags as they were heat-sensitive. “In many booths, polling staff placed the machines near windows exposing them to the sun. Faulty machines were replaced,” he said.
State spokesman of RLD Sunil Rohta held the BJP responsible for malfunctioning of EVMs. “It seems to be an attempt to keep voting percentage low in Muslim, Dalit and Jat dominated areas where people are rallying behind RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan,” he said. Meanwhile, BJP MLA Kapil Deo Agarwal said the charges of opposition parties were baseless.