Drenched by Nor’westers downpour,EVMs silence Mathurapur voters

The EVMs failed to work because water had seeped into them during the last two days of downpour,said election officials. The EVMs were stored at Fakir Chand College in Diamond Harbour area from where they were taken to the polling stations.

The gram panchayats in the area where polling was affected included south Bishnupur,Nisapur,Dhunurhat,Jagadishpur,Krishnapur,Gabberia and Anchna.

Locals and political parties alike blamed the district administration for the poor arrangements.

According to them,there was waterlogging in the polling stations on poll day. Since morning,people were standing in queue at the booths,but left after which they were told that polling had been cancelled for the day.

Meanwhile,Left Front chairman Biman Bose criticised the state Election Commission for deferring the vote till Thursday.

“Mandirbazar,which is at the heart of Mathurapur parliamentary constituency,is close to the city so polling could have been carried out today itself by taking EVMs from other areas. It is strange that the EC has not taken proper steps to hold elections today,” he said.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also demanded an inquiry into the incident and blamed it on the district administration’s ‘deficiency’.

“The administration should look into why the EVMs were not stored properly and got wet in the rains,” said Banerjee.

Meanwhile,the state election commission has ordered a probe into the incident.

“The officials posted there should have been more careful and we have ordered a probe,” said state Chief Electoral Officer Debashis Sen.