883 ballot units and 881 control units were replaced today, state Chief Electoral Officer VL Kantha Rao said.
As many as 883 EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines were replaced on Wednesday in Madhya Pradesh, where voting for the Assembly elections took place, a senior poll official said.
"883 ballot units and 881 control units were replaced today. 2126 VVPATs were replaced during mock poll and during voting," state Chief Electoral Officer VL Kantha Rao said.
The announcement by Rao came after Congress leaders claimed that EVMs at many places had malfunctioned.
74.61% voter turnout was recorded in the state till 6 pm as voting was underway in some places.
Due to glitches in the machines, voting was halted at several polling stations.
Congress demanded that repolling should be done at the polling stations where voting was stopped for more than three hours.
"We have demanded that repolling be done at all those polling booths where voting process was halted for 3 hours or more because voters do not come back there as everybody has some work. Merely saying that polling will be extended till 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock is not right," Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said.
Earlier, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had demanded to extend voting time as machine malfunctions had delayed the polling.
"There have been several complaints that EVMs at many places malfunctioned. We have have written to the Election Commission and demanded that voting time in these polling booths should be extended to compensate for the delay," Scindia said.
The Guna MP said the Election Commission should compensate for time wasted in replacing the EVMs by extending polling time in those booths.
"Several reports are coming from across the state that EVMs are not working. This has been affecting the polling. Long queues are being witnessed in the city. EC should immediately take decision. The EVMs should be changed," state Congress chief Kamal Nath tweeted.
Responding to the demand, CEC O P Rawat said in Delhi that there are provisions for the extension of time and local officers (in Madhya Pradesh) can take the call on the matter.
The battle of ballots in Madhya Pradesh is just months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls slated in the first half of 2019.
There are 2,899 candidates are in the fray. The state has 5.04 crore eligible voters.
Altogether 3,00,782 government employees, including 45,904 women, are on poll duty and 65,341 polling stations have been set up.
(With PTI inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Jabalpur:")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}