GUWAHATI: As many as 1,025 electronic voting machine (EVM) components — control units, VVPATs and ballot units — were replaced as some machines malfunctioned during the phase of polling across the five Lok Sabha seats in Assam on Friday, officials informed.
A senior election official stated that complete EVM set's were replaced in numerous cases while it was changed in parts in most of the cases following the detection of snags.
The election official went on to say that a mock polling 90 minutes before the commencement of the actual voting was conducted to test the EVM's.
He added that the machines in which several of these glitches were observed during the mock polling were replaced accordingly.
Notably, an EVM comprises of three components, namely control unit (CU), voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) and ballot unit (BU).
The official revealed that a total of 330 CUs, 540 VVPATs and 155 BUs were replaced from different machines in the five constituencies.
He further disclosed that 150 complete sets of EVMs were replaced
after they malfunctioned during the mock poll.
However, the official did not share details of the total number of EVM's which malfunctioned constituency wise.
Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel informed that malfunctioning of EVM's were reported in some booths, following which, the machines were replaced.
Goel revealed that around 5.5 per cent VVPATS were changed while 3.3 per cent of control units and 1.6 per cent of ballot units were replaced till 5 pm.
He added that these figures might increase slightly if more machines are replaced after 5 pm.
Another official said that reports of EVM malfunctioning originated from at least three polling booths of Bihpuria in Lakhimpur, one each in Hojai, Kaliabor and Bokakhat, and one in Naharkatia of Dibrugarh.
“Voting at Jorbil Baniya LP School booth in Majuli started one hour late as the EVM stopped functioning and it began after a new machine arrived. Two more polling stations at Majuli witnessed more than an hour delay in voting due to malfunctioning,” he added.
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