Nagpur: Glitches in EVMs were reported at some places in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra where polling is being held in the first phase on Thursday, an official said. After reports of VVPAT machines not working in Gondiya district of Bhanadara-Gondiya constituency, returning officer there said that the faulty machines are being replaced quickly and the election is going on smoothly without delay.
EVM glitches were also reported from Booth No. 127 (Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency) and Booth No. 147 (Yavatmal- Washim) in Maharashtra. Bhandara district Collector Shantanu Goel told PTI that polling is underway smoothly sans any obstruction in the Bhandara-Gondiya constituency.
“The faulty machines, if any, are being replaced in 15 minutes,” he said. A voter outside the Blue Diamond School polling booth in Nagpur constituency said voters there were waiting in a long queue and the EVM machine there has stopped working.
Some of those in the queue are returning to their homes, he said. After an EVM machine stopped working in Yavatmal constituency, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance candidate Bhavana Gawali requested the Election Commission to extend the poll timings in that booth.
The state Congress unit has sent 39 complaints to the Election Commission (EC) about “glitches” in the functioning of EVMs at some booths in six Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra where polling was underway, the party said. The party, in a statement said it made 12 complaints to the EC via e-mail, pointing out glitches in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) at some booths in Nagpur, followed by eight such complaints in Chandrapur, six in Wardha and five in Ramtek. The party also sent four complaints each of such snags in Yavatmal-Washim and Gadchiroli-Chimur seats, it said.