Polling was delayed in several booths across the country on Tuesday after electronic voting machines (EVMs) developed technical glitch amid polling in 117 parliamentary constituencies across 13 states and two Union Territories in the biggest phase of the Lok Sabha election 2019.
More than 50 polling booths reported EVM malfunction since the morning in Uttar Pradesh’s Rohilkhand region. Twenty-seven of these were reported from Badaun, 14 in Bareilly, 11 in Moradabad, seven in Sambhal and five each on Pilibhit and Aonla.
A problem with a Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT was also reported from a booth in Firozabad delaying polling for 45 minutes before being rectified.
In Kerala, EVM snags were reported from several places. In one of the booths, in Kovalam polling was disrupted after some voters complained that their votes to Congress’ hand symbol went to the BJP’s lotus.
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In Bihar’s Supaul, a faulty EVM had to be replaced before voting began.
This is the third of the seven phases of voting to elect a new Lok Sabha.
Voting is underway in all the 26 constituencies in Gujarat, all the 20 seats in Kerala, 14 each in Maharashtra and Karnataka, ten in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Chhattisgarh, six in Odisha, five each in Bihar and West Bengal, four in Assam, two in Goa, one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Tripura.
Tuesday’s polling will also mark an end to the electoral battle in southern India. With polling already complete in Tamil Nadu, except Vellore, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 20 seats in Kerala and the remaining 14 in Karnataka will go to polls on Tuesday.
The votes will be counted on May 23.
{{/usCountry}}The votes will be counted on May 23.
{{/usCountry}}(With inputs from Ramesh Babu, Gerard Desouza, Chandan Kumar, Hemendra Chaturvedi)