Reports of 'large-scale' failure of EVMs during bypolls in UP and Maharashtra are 'exaggerated', says EC

The Election Commission on Monday termed as "exaggerated projection of reality" reports of 'large-scale' failure of EVMs during Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

New Delhi: Polling was held for bypolls to four Lok Sabha seats and 10 Assembly constituencies spread across 10 states. Besides Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, bypolls were held in Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra and Nagaland Lok Sabha seat. The Assembly bypolls were held in Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon constituency), Uttar Pradesh (Noorpur), Bihar (Jokihat), Jharkhand (Gomia and Silli), Kerala (Chengannur), Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Uttarakhand (Tharali) and West Bengal (Maheshtala).

The counting of votes will take place on May 31.

28 May 2018

21:22 IST

Over 54 percent polling was recorded in the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency while 61 percent votes were cast in the Noorpur Assembly constituency. 

18:59 IST

The Election Commission has termed as "exaggerated projection of reality" reports of 'large-scale' failure of EVMs during Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Amid reports of faulty EVMs from various polling stations, the commission came out with a statement to deny that the failure of the voting machines was unusual.

"... The Commission allocates sufficient reserve of EVMs and VVPATs for every general and by election to the Lok Sabha or state Assembly. It is pertinent to mention that during commissioning of EVMs and VVPATs, apart from EVMs and VVPATs required for deployment at every polling station, an adequate number of reserve EVMs and VVPATs (around 20-25 per cent) are prepared to replace any defective machine on poll day at the polling station," it said.

It added that the reserve EVMs/VVPATs are kept with sector officers, who replace the defective EVMs/VVPATs. Since each sector officer is entrusted with only 10-12 polling stations, the time taken to replace any EVM/VVPAT is normally less than 30 minutes. "The replacement of defective EVMs/VVPATs during actual polls is a normal process and does not vitiate the integrity or credibility of the poll process in any way whatsoever," the statement read.