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Ahead of UP election result, 3 officers removed from poll duty amid EVM row
In Varanasi, additional district magistrate Nalini Kant Singh was removed for transporting 20 EVMs without informing the district election officer and deputy district election officer, district magistrate (who is also district election officer) Kaushal Raj Sharma said in a statement.
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday ordered the removal of three officials from poll duty in Uttar Pradesh amid allegation of violation of rules related to transportation of electronic voting machines (EVMs), a day before the verdict of five assembly elections were set to be announced.
In Varanasi, additional district magistrate Nalini Kant Singh was removed for transporting 20 EVMs without informing the district election officer and deputy district election officer, district magistrate (who is also district election officer) Kaushal Raj Sharma said in a statement. The rule also mandates that representatives of every political party be informed about the transportation of the machines.
Singh was replaced by additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) Sanjai Kumar, he added.
The development came amid allegations by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “stealing votes” by manipulating EVMs, a charge denied by the ruling party.
Earlier on Tuesday, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that a truck carrying EVMs was “intercepted” in Varanasi. His party workers had also staged a protest outside an EVM strongroom in Pahariya Mandi area, where the machines which were used in the polls were stored.
“The SP is winning Ayodhya, that is why BJP is scared. Election Commission officials are tampering with EVMs,” Yadav had told a press briefing, citing purported instances of EVMs found unmanned in various locations across the state.
Sharma clarified that the EVMs were being taken “for hands-on training (on Wednesday) for employees ahead of the counting day.
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The EVMs used in the elections have been sealed in a strong room in the possession of CRPF and there is CCTV surveillance, Sharma had said.
On Wednesday, SP leader Pradeep Jaiswal said party workers had found the EVMs (which were not used in polls) loaded in a vehicle near the strong room in Paharia Mandi. “We suspect that there has been some irregularity,” Jaiswal alleged.
Jaiswal also pointed out that the administration should have informed them about the transportation of the concerned EVMs for training of employees.
“My question is why the SP leaders were not informed about the transportation,” he said.
At least 900 employees on poll duty were trained for counting of votes without the machines at UP College in Varanasi on Wednesday, Sharma said. The training was imparted with the help of projectors and training videos in 16 rooms, he added.
Police, meanwhile, on Wednesday registered a case against 300 unidentified people at Lalpur-Pandepur police station for allegedly pelting stones on the vehicle of additional director general of police (Varanasi zone) Ramkumar on Tuesday evening during the SP protest. The accused are being identified through CCTV footage, an officer said, seeking anonymity.
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The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Ghoraval in Sonbhadra district of east Uttar Pradesh was also replaced following instructions by the Election Commission. District magistrate TK Shibu said SDM Ramesh Kumar was replaced by PCS officer Shyam Pratap Singh.
The development came against the backdrop of a demonstration on Tuesday by SP workers when a vehicle allegedly carrying ballot papers and box arrived at Polytechnic College, the counting centre for Ghoraval constituency. The EVMs used during the March 7 poll were stored in this college.
SP workers accused the administration of changing the postal ballots. SDM Kumar said the vehicle with ballot papers and box had reached the college by mistake, SP district unit chief Vijay Yadav alleged.
SDM Kumar ruled out any irregularities and claimed the vehicle was carrying some stationery items.
In Bareilly, additional election officer V K Singh was removed from the election process after ballot boxes and other election items were found inside a garbage collection bin of the local municipality in Baheri area, news agency PTI reported.
In Chandauli district, around a dozen half-burnt VVPAT (voter verified paper audit trail) slips were found behind Amadpur Primary school, which was used as a polling booth, in Dhanapur area late on Tuesday, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Syedaraja assembly constituency Amit Yadav alleged. He said the slips carried symbols of various political parties, including those of the SP and the BSP but not the BJP.
SDM Avanish Kumar said a probe into the matter is underway.
The BJP, meanwhile, urged the Election Commission to take action against parties that raise doubts on EVMs. The party claimed that its rivals were “rattled by the results of exit polls and apprehending humiliating defeat at the polls in Uttar Pradesh”.
The saffron party, in a letter, urged the poll body to deal “effectively as per the electoral laws and other available legal remedies” with “irresponsible leaders of such political parties, who are inciting and provoking these anti-social elements to create disturbance”.
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“The commission must take a view on the matter. Spreading lies and inciting citizens is a serious and grave offence and Shri Akhilesh Yadav and his cohorts must be held accountable and be charged under relevant provisions of Election code and Indian Penal Code,” the letter, which was submitted by a delegation comprising Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and G Kishen Reddy, and BJP leader Om Pathak, in the EC office, said.
The allegations that EVMs are rigged or can be tampered with have surfaced repeatedly ahead of state and general elections in the past, with opposition parties seeking the reintroduction of ballot papers. The EC has not found any proof of vulnerability so far.
The BJP is set to retain power in India’s most populous and politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, a clutch of exit polls predicted on Monday. If the BJP returns to power in UP – no exit poll gave the advantage to the SP-led Opposition alliance – it will be the first party in a generation to complete a full term and retain government in the state.
