The chief electoral officer in Gujarat BB Swain came on record to give the status on the complaint filed by Congress in Porbandar about the Bluetooth-operated EVMs. In a press conference, Swain said that it was the misunderstanding as a polling agent deputed at the polling station was carrying a mobile phone of Intex company with the model name ECO105, which created the confusion.
The chief electoral officer in Gujarat BB Swain came on record to give the status on the complaint filed by Congress in Porbandar about the Bluetooth-operated EVMs. In a press conference, Swain said that it was the misunderstanding as a polling agent deputed at the polling station was carrying a mobile phone of Intex company with the model name ECO105, which created the confusion.
The polling agent who had the mobile was Manoj Singrakhiya who belonged to BSP and had been deputed as a polling agent by the party.
Swain also said that the report to ECI has been sent on the status of the complaint that it has been disposed after proper investigation. The complaint had been lodged by Congress leader Arjun Modhwalia who had claimed EVMs in three polling booths were connected to an external device via Bluetooth.
Swain, addressed a press conference at his office in Gandhinagar on Saturday and said, "Because, the Bluetooth mobile device was carrying the model name ECO105, which belonged to a polling agent of one party, it was reflected in the mobile instrument of a complainant. Because the initials of the model name resembled with EC, they filed a complaint but ultimately the matter is disposed after thorough checking by the experts."
"The election commission took this complaint very seriously and the district collector with returning officer reached the polling station and senior expert engineers of BEL reached for the investigation of the case. The complainant and local media persons also were kept present during the fact checking process and the mobile device having ECO105 model name was found ultimately. We have sent this concluding report to the Election Commission of India also," added Swain.
The complaint of EVMs being operated through Bluetooth technology was filed by the Congress candidate Arjun Modhwadia to the Election Commission. Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia had complained of possible EVM tampering at three polling booths in a Muslim-dominated area of Porbandar claiming that some machines were found to be connecting to external devices via Bluetooth.
"We detected that the EVMs at three polling booths at Memanwada, a Muslim-dominated area, are connected to external devices through Bluetooth. When the Bluetooth of a mobile phone is turned on, a device named 'ECO 105' is shown as available," Modhwadia, the Congress candidate from Porbandar, said. This clearly means that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with using the device via Bluetooth, he alleged.
"The chips fitted in the EVMs appear to be programmable using Bluetooth, and this raises the possibility of tampering. The voting system should be immune to such connectivity to external devices," he said.
The CEO also mentioned that the progressive and constant voting has been observed throughout the Gujarat. By 2:00pm, the average voting was recorded at 45.61%. He said that the number of voting turnout was considerably good and expected to remain high during last hours of polling.
With inputs from PTI
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