ELECTION...

“It was only then that they realised that something was amiss and alerted the Sector Officer. However, a larger crowd had gathered by then and they were attacked and held hostage by a mob along with the EVM in the vehicle at 2145 hrs alleging that the EVM was being taken to be tampered with,” the statement added.

Two security personnel were also suspended over the incident. Earlier, before the Election Commission’s explanation, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the BJP of trying to manipulate elections.

“The fact is, too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them. The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she tweeted.

Assam voted in the second phase, covering 39 constituencies across 13 districts on Thursday. Paul did not respond to calls for comment.

BJP leader Subhash Dutta said the conduct of election and transport and security of EVMs is the EC’s job.

“The BJP has no role to play in the entire process. Hence, it is the EC which is answerable, not us. Congress may say whatever they want. They are dejected as they are now aware of losing and therefore indulging in blame game.”

The incident came to light when Guwahati-based journalist Atanu Bhuyan tweeted about the EVM being found in Paul’s car hours after polling for the second phase of elections in Assam ended.

A video showing some people surrounding the vehicle surfaced. Paul was not seen in the car. HT accessed Paul’s election affidavit in which the vehicle seen in the video is shown to be to that of his wife, Madhumita.

News agency ANI subsequently reported that a First Information Report has been lodged against unknown people who attacked the car. It added that investigations were on about the sequence of events and that EVMs were not tampered with during the attack and were in the custody of the administration.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a group of men on Thursday night stopped a few vehicles carrying spare EVMs in Cachar district.

“These are doctored EVMs, which will now be replaced with the EVMs that recorded the votes. Why were these EVMs being transported in a private vehicle without any security personnel?” asked one of the men.

The men attacked one vehicle and overturned it, forcing police to fire in the air to control the situation.

The chaos resulted in a traffic jam across five kilometres in Mahasadak. Polling officials were eventually forced to walk with EVMs to reach the election coordination centre. Videos of the incident went viral, with people immediately linking the transport of these EVMs with the seizure of an EVM in Paul’s vehicle.

Cachar police superintendent Bhanwar Lal Meena rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

Cachar deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli said the EVMs being transported were reserved, unused and unpolled. “They were being moved to the Strong Room as mandated by the Election Commission. There is no question of used EVMs being carried this way. There was confusion and I appeal to all the people not to believe in rumours,” Jalli said in a statement.