EVMs malfunctioned in South Mumbai, alleges Sena
16 May 2009
With just five votes polled in his favour at a booth in a Shiv Sena stronghold, Sena's Mohan Rawale has refused to accept defeat, even as Milind Deora of the Congress has been declared winner of the South Mumbai seat.
Rawale blamed it on the electronic voting machines (EVMs). He alleged that some EVMs have malfunctioned and he said he would lodge a complaint with the election commission after consulting party bosses.
Rawale cited the fact that he got only five votes from an area which is supposed to be a Shiv Sena stronghold. "I wonder how I got only 5 votes from an area that is a Shiv Sena stronghold," he said.
EVMs cannot maintain secrecy of voting as it does not allow shuffling of ballots from different areas. Candidates can easily track down which polling booth voted in whose favour.
Party agents can track down the polling booth number marked on the EVM and number of votes polled for each candidate sitting on different tables where votes are being counted.
Meanwhile, the results for the North Goa (Panaji) Lok Sabha seat, where BJP candidate Sripad Naik is leading against his nearest rival Jitendra Deshprabhu of NCP, were kept on hold after one of the electronic voting machine (EVM) developed a technical snag.
Election officials stated that EVM from Cumbharjua constituency with 462 votes developed technical problem during the counting. Naik is having a lead of 5,893 votes in the constituency.
The Election Commission had, earlier, ordered a probe into the malfunctioning of EVMs in 101 polling booths of a Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal, prompting deferring of polling to the next day.