Pune EVM ‘transfers’ votes to Congress

PUNE: Defective electronic voting machines reportedly “transferred” votes that were cast to the Congress candidate at a polling booth in Shamrao Kalmadi School in Pune on Thursday.

The incident came to light when voters found that the Congress light was blinking after pressing any button on the EVM. As alert voters brought this to the notice of the concerned authorities of the Election Commission, voting was stopped for almost an hour and started after a new EVM was installed. Authorities permitted around 28 voters who had cast votes with the defective machine to cast fresh votes. Activists of all parties demanded an extension of 90 minutes to compensate for the time lost due to the defective EVM.

Authorities said, “We were also informed about the problem at some voting centres, but we are yet to receive an official report in this regard. Wherever technical problems were detected in EVMs, voting was stopped and the machines were replaced immediately.”

According to reports, in Pune, 16 EVMs had to be replaced. This included seven machines in Wadgaon Sheri, one each in Shivajinagar, Parvati and Kothrud and three each in Camp and Kasaba. 26 EVMs had to be replaced in Maval, three in Baramati and five in Shirur.