Nagpur: Maharashtra chief electoral officer (CEO) Ashwani Kumar on Sunday visited Bhandara and Gondia to look into complaints of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the bypoll held recently.
A source in Bhandara district administration said that Kumar interacted with officials and obtained information about the complaints. Re-polling was ordered in 49 booths where EVMs were not repaired for hours on May 28.
NCP, Congress and BRP-BMS leaders had alleged that BJP had deliberately caused the machines to malfunction. NCP leader Praful Patel had said that faulty EVMs played a major role in bringing down the voter turnout in Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency where as much as 70% to 72% voting takes place. He had expressed surprise over so many EVMs running out of order.
The Election Commission had admitted that 411 EVMs were not working.
According to NCP workers, nearly 700 EVMs were not working till early part of the day on election day. BRP-BMS president Prakash Ambedkar had alleged that 450 machines were faulty. Even BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had demanded that polling hours be extended so that all voters could exercise their franchise.
There were demands for a complete re-poll. However, the EC decided to go in for re-poll only at 49 booths. However, following an impressive victory of NCP in the by-election, the allegations of deliberate EVM malfunctioning have subsided.