According to officials, of the total 26,865 EVMs and 24,689 Control Units (CUs) and VVPATs allotted, 164 EVMs, 714 VVPATs and 225 CUs were found to be dysfunctional.
Glitches in more than 800 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) marked the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly election on Saturday.
According to officials, of the total 26,865 EVMs and 24,689 Control Units (CUs) and VVPATs allotted, 164 EVMs, 714 VVPATs and 225 CUs were found to be dysfunctional.
Congress candidate from Porbandar Arjun Modhwadia reportedly filed a complaint with the Election Commission, saying that the EVMs in his constituency were 'connecting via Bluetooth'.
Highly placed sources at EC said, "2-3% of units going dysfunctional is normal. Most of the complaints of dysfunctional units were reported during mock polls held from 7 am to 8 am. Because of this poll procedures were delayed. During polling, very few complaints of dysfunctional units were reported".
The Election Commission of India (ECI) released a data of the number of EVMs and VVPATs used in all the polling stations. A total of 26,865 Ballot Units (Bus), 24,689 Control Units (CUs) and 24,689 VVPATs were used in the first phase.
An EVM consists of two Units — CU and BU — joined by a five-metre cable. The CU is with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the BU is placed inside the voting compartment.
Acting upon complaints, the EC visited a polling booth in Thakkar plot, Porbandar, for inspection.
EVM engineer S Anand said, "The name that you give to your Bluetooth device will be shown when it is paired to another device. Some EVMs were replaced due to errors. EVMs were updated with VVPATs, which allows people to verify their vote for 7 seconds," he added.
Dismissing allegations of EVM tampering, Bharuch District Collector Sandeep Sangle said, "A few voters in booth 4 said their votes were going to some other candidate, but the polling officer asked them to do a test vote and told them that if the complaint was found to be false, action will be taken against them. Those voters left without tests, so there's no truth behind such reports."
Sangle also addressed the talks doing the rounds about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi being connected to EVMs.
"An EVM's make is such that it cannot be connected to a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and be tampered with. We have attended to all such complaints with the help of technical staff," he said.
Bhavnagar's Deputy Electoral Officer, Yogesh Thakkar said no such issues were reported.
"Some EVMs were replaced due to errors. EVMs were updated with VVPATs, which allows people to verify their vote for 7 seconds," he said. —With agencies
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