The curious case of beeping EVMs: Ludhiana’s turn now

The EVM was from booth number 197 in Kutbe Arianwala village,which falls under Gill constituency. The seat witnessed a close contest between the Shiromani Akali Dal ( Badal) candidate and sitting MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik and the Congress’ Malkiat Singh Dakha.

After the district authorities obtained the EC’s permission to open the strong room,the deputy commissioner,polling agents and representatives of the candidates reached PAU. The strong room was opened at about 5.10 pm and closed by 5.30pm.

“The machine was found beeping because the presiding officer did not switch off the battery supply. A show case notice will be issued to the concerned presiding officer. And for now the machine has been switched off and the strong room locked once again. Vidoegraphy of the entire process has been made. A final report will be submitted to the ECI. The representatives of the candidates have expressed their satisfaction over the entire process and have signed the necessary documents,” Tewari added.

V K Kulkrani,an engineer appointed by the EC to scrutinise the machine,said: “An EVM’s battery life when in continuous use is two days and after it has been locked and kept the battery can stay for more than fifteen days. This beeping is a signal that the battery is now discharging. The data inside the EVM is safe and this is the third incident that we have encountered in Punjab”.

Friday’s beeping incident comes despite the EC having sent new guidelines to all DC’s regarding the strong rooms after the Jalandhar incident. Tewari,however,said the authorities had followed the EC guidelines. “While all the conditions laid down by the ECI are being strictly followed,this incident occurred as some presiding officer forgot to switch off the machine. But yes all conditions have been maintained in ensuring that the process of correcting the machine is done to satisfaction of all parties,” he said. An EVM beep scare was also reported from Ferozepur on Friday.