The Election Commission ordered repolling in polling station 179 of the Ratabari seat in Assam a day after a video emerged on social media allegedly showing electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the car of Patharkandi BJP candidate Krishnendu Paul. The officers in charge of delivering EVMs have been put on leave.
After the second phase of polls in Assam finished on Thursday, the video surfaced. Assam-based journalist Atanu Bhuyan tweeted it, saying that the “situation is tense in Patharkandi” as a result of the incident.
Priyanka Gandhi, a Congress representative, said the Election Commission should act decisively on such grievances and that all political parties should conduct a severe re-evaluation of the use of electronic voting machines.
“The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVM’s needs to be carried out by all national parties”. 3/3
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 2, 2021
Priyanka also said that the BJP hires its media apparatus to accuse those who exposed them of being disgruntled losers. “Every time there’s an election, there’s a video of private cars carrying EVMs. They have the following features, which are unsurprising: 1. The cars are usually owned by BJP candidates or colleagues. 2. The images are interpreted as isolated events and discarded as outliers. 3. The BJP employs its media apparatus to accuse those who leaked the videos of being bitter losers,” she wrote on Twitter.
“The truth is that there are many too many such accidents registered, and little is done about them. “The EC needs to start acting decisively on these grievances, and all national parties need to perform a significant re-evaluation of the use of EVMs,” Priyanka said.
In the second phase of the election in Assam, 39 assembly seats were up for election on Thursday. Until 6 p.m., a voter turnout of 73.03 percent was registered.
