Parties flag delay in movement of polled EVMs at Punjab’s Faridkot
The Faridkot district administration, however, has maintained that there was “no negligence” and “proper procedure was followed”
A delay in the movement of polled Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from the polling stations in the Gidderbaha assembly segment of the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency resulted in machines from five assembly segments not being sealed in a strongroom till Sunday morning, prompting reactions from political parties.
The district administration, however, has maintained that there was “no negligence” and “proper procedure was followed”.
According to the information, the EVMs of five assembly segments — Faridkot, Kotkapura, Jaitu, Rampura Phull and Gidderbaha — were sealed inside a strongroom at the Government Brijindra College at Faridkot around 11 am on Sunday.
The failure to complete the process till morning, however, saw political parties raise the issue with authorities.
The supporters of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Gurbaksh Singh Chaouhan and independent Sarbjeet Singh Khalsa accused the administration of “negligence” in the process of sealing the polled EVMs.
Dist admn refutes ‘negligence’ claims
The district administration, however, refuted the allegations in a press release, saying, “There was no scope of any kind of negligence in the polling process.”
Faridkot returning officer Vineet Kumar said the EVMs were in continuous vigil of CCTV and they were brought in GPS-enabled vehicles under surveillance.
“The administration followed proper procedure while bringing EVMs from Gidderbaha assembly segments. There was some delay as it was a hectic process to bring the EVMs. Gidderbaha is 95 km from Faridkot, where the strongroom has been designated. Firstly, all the EVMs at polling stations were collected at one place in Gidderbaha, the process also included lengthy paperwork and later they were brought to Faridkot in trucks under surveillance. The whole process takes time, there was no negligence at any point,” he said.
Detailing the process, he said, “Immediately after the polling ends, the officials conclude the process on EVMs. These machines have a seal, which is only opened during the counting in front of the counting agents of the political parties. Even when the EVMs were loading, we had called polling agents of political parties and some of them had even travelled along with the vehicles carrying EVMs to Faridkot. Some people are just spreading rumours, there was only delay, no negligence.”
