Technical issue reported in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at several districts in Maharashtra during local body polls on Tuesday, December 02. According to information, voters at a polling station at Rahata in Ahilyanagar district created chaos after allegedly EVM was allegedly replaced at the time of voting, which has sparked concern among people.
The district administration replaced some EVMs during the mock poll conducted on Monday, citing technical faults, according to Saam TV. However, candidates alleged that they were not informed about the replacement in advance, raising suspicions about the fairness of the process. They questioned how machines that were switched off at 11 am were reissued at 7:30 am the following day.
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As voting began this morning, several candidates complained that EVMs were malfunctioning at a few centres, with buttons corresponding to specific election symbols not functioning properly. The uproar led to heated exchanges between candidates and election officials, and in some areas, polling was briefly disrupted.
Elections for eight municipalities in the Ahilyanagar district are being conducted today, with 69 candidates in fray, who are contesting for the post of mayor and 926 for the post of corporator.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Datta Kakas has levelled serious allegations of bogus voting in Buldhana, claiming that fake voters were being brought in from rural areas to influence results. However, the District Election Department has informed that the voting process for the elections of 10 out of 11 municipal councils in Buldhana district, excluding Deulgaon Raja Municipal Council going smoothly.
EVMs at the Akluj polling station in Solapur reportedly stopped working for nearly 50 minutes, halting the voting process. Technical experts and Election Commission officials were called to inspect and restore the machines.