Extended polling triggers a row
The delay in wrapping up the polling of votes in some booths in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala has sparked a row with the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) blaming the Election Commission for poor coordination.
While the polling hours o¢cially ended at 6 p.m. on Friday, voters who had arrived at the booths by then were issued tokens and permitted to vote. But in some booths, mostly in the Vadakara constituency, the polling had extended beyond 10 p.m..
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Saturday said the Election Commission had failed to hold smooth elections in Kerala. He said there were instances of voters leaving without casting their votes after waiting for hours. .
‘Independent probe’
Mr. Satheesan demanded an independent probe into the alleged lapses. Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said the polling was deliberately delayed in booths where the UDF enjoyed a upper hand. He accused the CPI (M) of hijacking the poll machinery. The UDF tended to have the advantage in as many as 90% of the booths where the delay was reported, he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Electoral O¢cer (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul defended the polling o¢cials saying that the election process was “completely satisfactory.” He attributed the delay in some booths to the surge in voter turnout after 5 p.m.
Polling was wrapped up in 95% of the booths by 6 p.m., and 99%, by 8 p.m. “Only in some booths in Vadakara did the voting go on. This was due to a higher turnout after 5 p.m., requiring o¢cials to verify records,” he said.
Considering the heat, the polling was excellent, he said. The electronic voting machines functioned awlessly, when compared to previous ones where the malfunction rate was an average of 5%.
Duplicate entries
This time, only 0.44% of ballot units and control units and 2.1% of voter-veriable paper audit trails machines malfunctioned, he said.
All serious complaints related to duplicate entries in the electoral rolls were examined, but “no substantial issues” were found, Mr. Kaul added.