Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Even as the voter turnout in Gujarat for the 26 Lok Sabha seats matched the 2014 record with 63.67% polling by Tuesday evening, the voting was marred by numerous cases of EVM and VVPAT malfunctioning. The Election Commission replaced over 1,533 VVPATs and over 800 EVMs after they malfunctioned. Most of the failures were reported from Surendranagar and Jamnagar constituencies.
Over 65,240 VVPATs, 80,344 ballot units and 62,256 control units — that make up an EVM — were used to conduct polls in Gujarat in the third phase. “Among the EVMs and VVPATS used in Gujarat, over 1,533 VVPATS had to be replaced. This is 2.93 per cent of the all the VVPATS used in the polls,” officials from the Election Commission told The Indian Express under the condition of anonymity.
Among EVMs, a total of 814 ballot units (BU) and 882 control units (CU) also had to be replaced during the day. The failure rate among ballot units was 1.19 per cent and that of control units was 1.70 per cent. “The machines were replaced largely because of connection failures among the machines, confusion among poll staff in usage and failure of sensors of the VVPATS that are sensitive to sunlight,” officials said.
A total of 711 VVPATS, 394 ballot units and 571 control units were rejected during the mock polls that were held before polling began at 7 am Tuesday morning. The rest of the failures happened when elections were underway and were promptly replaced.
“We used the latest M3 machines, most of which were brand new and supplied directly to Gujarat for the Lok Sabha polls. So the failure rate of EVMs and VVPATS were less than the 2017 Assembly elections which was over 5 per cent,” the official added. The machines were supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
Click here for more election news
Most of the cases of EVM and VVPAT malfunctioning were reported from Surendranagar and Jamnagar. “This is because, we used M2 machines for the Assembly bypolls at Dhangadhra, which is a part of Surendranagar Lok Sabha constituency, and Jamnagar Rural, a part of Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat,” the official said.
The failures that happened during the polling day on Tuesday is in addition to the defective EVMs and VVPATS that Election Commission replaced in February-March 2019. A total of 3,565 EVMs and 2,594 VVPATs were replaced after defects were found during the first-level checks conducted across the state.
“Unlike the 2017 Assembly polls, there were no complaints from voters challenging a vote under Rule-49 MA of the Conduct of Election Rules in which a voter could challenge the vote cast by him after looking at the VVPAT printout. There were also no complaints of bluetooth hacking EVMs,” the official added.
While brand new EVMs were sourced from Bengaluru, VVPATs were brought from three different manufacturing locations of BEL, including Bengaluru, Panchkula and Kotdwara. The M2 machines that were used in the bypolls at four Assembly constituencies were already lying in possession of the EC in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, the polling ended without any major incidents. The highest voter turnout was recorded in Valsad constituency in south Gujarat — 74.09%, nearly 2% more than its 2014 turnout of 72.28%. The high turnout was recorded in other south Gujarat seats like Bardoli (72.92%), Chhota Udepur (72.91%) and Bharuch (71.77%). In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Bardoli had recorded the highest voter turnout of 74.94 per cent.
The lowest voting was recorded in Amreli (55.73%), followed by Porbandar at 56.77%, Kutch (57.58%) and Surendnagar (57.84%). In 2014, Porbandar had lowest turnout at 52.62%.
In Gandhinagar constituency, where BJP president Amit Shah is contesting, the voter turnout was 64.95 per cent — a minor dip from its 2014 figure of 65.57%. In urban Ahmedabad West seat, the polling percentage was just 59.82 — a three percent dip from 62.93% in 2014. In neighbouring Ahmedabad East, the turnout was marginally better at 60.77%. Notably, Ahmedabad recorded the highest temperature in the state at 43.4 degree Celsius.
Sabarkantha, which has maximum rural polling stations, saw a better turnout of 67.02% — a minor dip for 67.82% in 2014.
Meanwhile, in the bypolls held for four Assembly seats of Unjha, Dhrangadhra, Jamnagar Rural and Manavadar, the average turnout was 58.60% with Unja recording a high of 51.75%, while Dhrangadhra a low of 44.14%.
“Till 6 pm, 63.67% polling has been recorded, which is expected to increase. I cannot say exactly how much it will increase,” said Chief Electoral officer S Murali Krishna after the polling concluded.
Meanwhile, a total of 43 complaints were received by the Election Commission, including a complaint filed by the Congress against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a possible violation of Model Code of Conduct. The Congress alleged that there were banners, flags and caps sporting the election symbol of the BJP within the restricted area of the polling booth where Modi went to cast his vote. But CEO Krishna rejected it, saying, “The District Collector was asked to examine the videos after which we have found there was no breach of model code.”
“We received about 43 complaints. The maximum complaints were from Ahmedabad district (11). There were five complaints each from Anand and Junagadh, four from Amreli and three each from Jamnagar, Dahod and Bhavnagar districts. Most of these complaints have been disposed of. We are still awaiting formal reports for about four of these complaints,” he added.
When asked if the Election Commission is considering ordering a re-poll in some of the areas like Manavadar were disturbances in polling was reported, the CEO said, “There is a minimum requirement of repolling. We will take a decision after making detailed scrutiny and assessments on Wednesday.”
