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EVMs found at TMC leader’s house, 5 officials suspended
Assembly elections were held in 31 constituencies in the third phase on Tuesday across three districts -Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas. The sector officer Tapan Sarkar claimed that they did not know that it was the house of a political leader, Goutam Ghosh affiliated to TMC and had only gone there to refresh themselves.
The Election Commission of India on Tuesday suspended at least five poll officials after three Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and four Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) were found at a booth-level Trinamool Congress leader’s house in Uluberia Uttar in Howrah district, hours before voting began for the third phase.
“We have already suspended the sector officer, two assistant sector officers and a sector police personnel in this regard. Three home guards were demobilised. Even though the machines were kept as reserve, they were immediately replaced with new ones. The seals were intact. All the candidates were informed that the EVMs won’t be used in the poll process,” said a senior official of ECI.
Assembly elections were held in 31 constituencies in the third phase on Tuesday across three districts -- Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas.
The sector officer Tapan Sarkar claimed that they did not know that it was the house of a political leader, Goutam Ghosh affiliated to TMC and had only gone there to refresh themselves.
“My assistant sector officers and I were tired as we had been travelling from booth to booth on Monday. Around 1 am on Tuesday, when we reached the sector office, we found all rooms occupied. We were asked to spend the night in the car. One of my assistant sector officers said that he knew a person in that area and we can go to his house to rest before joining the poll duty from 4 am. We never knew he was a TMC leader...It was my fault and I accept it. I have been associated with polling duty for many years but really don’t know how I committed this mistake,” Sarkar told reporters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, alleged that as the sector officers were state government officials they took the EVMs and VVPATs to rig the machines.
“The EVMs and VVPAT machines were found in the house of Goutam Ghosh, who happens to be the TMC booth president. A few villagers saw two vehicles outside the leader’s house and enquired. When they came to know that the sector officer has come, they informed me,” said Chiran Bera, the BJP’s candidate at Uluberia Uttar.
Incumbent MLA and TMC candidate Nirmal Maji refused to comment on the issue on the issue.
The BJP demanded an independent inquiry into the incident. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said it was a serious matter. “And this becomes more serious that the machines were brought by a car which was on election duty. There should be full-fledged inquiry in this matter and we are sure that the Election Commission will do a separate and independent inquiry,” he said.
The incident is similar to one on April 2, when EC suspended four poll officials for using a BJP leader’s vehicle to take EVMs and VVPATs to the strong room in a constituency in Assam, with the one difference being that in that case, the event happened after voting.
