Bharatiya Janata Party rigged Bhachau EVM, alleges Gujarat Congress

Gujarat Congress on Tuesday claimed to have won in 19 of 76 municipalities that went to polls on Sunday, but state election commission (SEC) has credited the party with only nine clear victories. The other 10 were won by independents who support Congress, claimed the party. In another controversy, Gujarat Congress has alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has indulged in mass-scale rigging to win the polls, “as they do in every polls”.

Congress’s allegation is backed by a video they claim has footage of BJP workers breaking the seal of electronic voting machines in Bhachau, Kutch. Congress workers had rushed to the spot, after receiving reports of such activity, and shot the episode. The video, they claim, has been forwarded to SEC.

“There is no way that BJP could’ve won in Bhachau,” said Arjun Modhwadia, president of Gujarat Congress on Tuesday. He lamented that the authorities had turned a blind eye to obvious rigging of EVMs by BJP in every election. “They had no candidate to field in Bhachau. We have caught them red-handed this time, and hope the authorities will take some action,” he added.

Meanwhile, state election commission has postponed counting of votes in Bhachau till further orders. “As per report filed by returning officer (of Bhachau), it was found that several presiding officers had not registered total votes polled in about 14 EVMs before sealing them,” said PS Shah, secretary and in-charge commissioner of SEC.

“These presiding officers had come to know about the mistake when they were preparing reports in the prescribed format. Thus, they broke the seal of EVMs and obtained number of votes polled in each of them and put the number in the report,” said Shah.

“We have asked the district collector to file detailed report about the lapse. Presently, we have stopped the counting till further orders as the detailed report in awaited. SEC will take a decision after looking into the reports,” he added.