Amidst the controversy of citizens' names missing from voter lists, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has come under the scanner after EVM machines in three polling stations in the city suburbs malfunctioned, forcing the commission to announce re-polling for today. The booths that will see re-polling in Mumbai are booth number 243 at Charkop, booth number 242 at Malad (West) in the North West constituency and booth number 160 at Chandivali in the North Central constituency. Besides Mumbai, booth number 305 of Shrigonda at the Ahmednagar constituency will also see re-polling on the same day.
Voters can exercise their franchise from 7am to 6pm.
As per the commissioner office,suburbs, in the first two cases, the error was purely technical as the EVMs had, on their own, registered extra votes. In Charkop, the machine showed two extra votes, whereas the Malad (West) polling booth registered five extra votes.
"We had learned about the fault on the morning of polling day itself, and the EVM machines were immediately replaced but the ECI decided to hold re-polling to avoid confusion," said Shekhar Channe, collector, suburbs.
However, an official enquiry has been ordered in the case of Chandivali polling booth as the ECI suspects the possibility of human error in that case. Officers explained that as per the procedure that is carried out before the actual polling begins, a mock drill is held in presence of polling officers and all candidates to check the EVMs. In this particular case, 59 votes were cast as part of the mock drill, however, the officers on duty reportedly forgot to delete them before the polling started. This resulted in an extra 59 votes being cast at that particular booth.
"There is a possibility of human error in this case and an inquiry has been initiated to fix the responsibility," Channe added.
According to sources, the same reason has been reported in the case of the Ahmednagar seat. Voting over there, however, was held in the second phase of the polls in the state on April 17.
The ECI has already been under the scanner over polls in Mumbai as over two lakh citizens have claimed to have found their names missing from the records. Last year the ECI deleted close to nine lakh names from the voter list as part of its correction drive.
Three polling booths in Mumbai to see re-polling of Lok Sabha constituencies:
Mumbai North-Central -
Chandivali - booth number 160
Mumbai North -
Charkop - booth number 243
Malad West - booth number 242
Date of Poll: Sunday, April 27, 2014
Reason: Technical fault found in EVMs
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