Voters will suffer electric shock on pressing 2nd EVM button: Chhattisgarh Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma's comment stokes controversy

Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Lakhma of misleading voters over the functioning of the EVM.

Korar: Chhattisgarh Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma sparked a controversy after allegedly saying that voters will suffer electric shock if they press the second button of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). 

“Press the first button, pressing the second button will give you an electric shock,” said the state excise  and commerce and industry minister while speaking at an election rally at Korar in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district.

Members of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party have raised an objection and accused Lakhma of misleading voters over the functioning of the EVM. 

The BJP will take up the matter with the Election Commission, said sources in the party.

Sixty-one-year-old Lakhma is a five-time MLA from Konta seat in Sukma district. He was one of the leaders who sustained injuries during the Naxal attack on Congress convoy on May 25, 2013, in Bastar.

On 25 May 2013, naxals attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Darbha Valley in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. The attack caused at least 27 deaths, including former state minister Mahendra Karma and Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel.

Chhattisgarh is witnessing Lok Sabha Election in the three phases for its 11 Parliamentary constituencies. The first phase was held on April 11, which recorded 65.8 per cent voter turnout.  The second phase will be held on April 18 and April 23. 

The state's Bastar region witnessed high security with deployment of 80,000 state and paramilitary personnel following a naxal attack in Dantewada area last week, which claimed the lives of a BJP leader and four security personnel. It recorded 57 per cent voting, as per provisional figures.