Ensure electronic voting machines are tamper proof, Congress urges Election Commission

Citing past cases of tampering of electronic voting machines allegedly by BJP, Gujarat Congress today asked the Election Commission here to keep a close watch on EVMs to ensure free and fair polls tomorrow.

In his letter to the Election Commission on Tuesday, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhwadia claimed that voting machines were allegedly tampered with in the states of Assam, Maharashtra, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand earlier.

"The machines supplied to these states were already manipulated. If you press any button on those machines, vote is registered against 'Lotus' (BJP symbol). These machines were supplied by two companies based at Hyderabad and Bangalore," Modhwadia's letter claimed.

"Earlier too, many complaints were found about defective EVM machines. Thus, I request you to take all the necessary steps, including installation of jammer devices at polling booths to stop voting machines being controlled through remote control or any other electronic device," he said in the letter.