The Election Commission placed under suspension the Presiding Officer and three other officials for shifting the voting machine to another vehicle without checking its antecedents after their vehicle in which escorting the EVM to Karimganj after the polling got over at 6 pm on April 1, broke down.
Election Commission of India has ordered repolling at booth number 149 (Indira MV School) of Ratabari (SC) assembly constituency in Assam after scrutinising the sequence of events leading to the recovery of the voting machine from a vehicle owned by BJP leader Krishnendu Paul's wife.
Krishnendu is the BJP candidate from the neighbouring Patharkandi assembly constituency.
The election body also placed under suspension the Presiding Officer and three other officials for shifting the voting machine to another vehicle without checking its antecedents after their vehicle in which escorting the EVM to Karimganj after the polling got over at 6 pm on April 1, broke down.
Breaking : Situation tense after EVMs found in Patharkandi BJP candidate Krishnendu Paul’s car. pic.twitter.com/qeo7G434Eb
— atanu bhuyan (@atanubhuyan)
The Election Commission, however, denied allegations that the EVMs had been tampered with.
In its report on the incident, the EC noted that upon examination, the "polled EVM comprising the balloting unit, control unit and voter-verifiable paper audit trail were found to be with seal intact without any damage whatsoever".
The poll body further said that even though the EVM had not been tampered with, as a precaution, repolling will be held at the booth.