Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said the Election Commission (EC) needs to start acting decisively on reports of private vehicles transporting electronic voting machines (EVMs) and a “serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties”.
Her remarks came over a video that surfaced on social media allegedly showing electronic voting machines (EVMs) in what was claimed to be the car of a BJP candidate in Assam.
Advertisement
Tagging the tweet which carried the video, Priyanka Gandhi said every time there is an election, videos of private vehicles caught transporting EVMs show up.
“Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common: 1. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates. 2. The videos are taken as one off incidents and dismissed as aberrations 3. The BJP uses its media machinery to accuse those who exposed the videos as sore losers,” the Congress general secretary said.
The fact is that too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them, she said.
“The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she said in a series of tweets.
After the conclusion of the second phase of polling in the Assam assembly elections on Thursday, Election Commission polling staff reportedly used a private vehicle belonging to a BJP candidate to transport an electronic voting machine (EVM) in the Barak valley region in Karimganj district.
According to media reports, the EVM was allegedly being taken to a strong room after the voting ended, however, a huge mob comprised mainly of opposition supporters surrounded the car and started attacking it. The police had to intervene, resorting to baton-charging, and firing in the air to disperse the crowd gathered there. The video of the incident was widely shared on social media.
According to sources close to ANI, the car, Election Commission polling team was riding on, had broken down, and then they took a lift in a passing private vehicle that was later identified as belonging to a BJP MLA named Krishnendu Paul, a candidate in the assembly election.
