Situation remains tense in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as strike enters 4th day
New Delhi, April 23
The national capital on Sunday recorded a turnout of around 54 per cent in the municipal polls amid complaints of faulty EVMs, with AAP convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leading the charge.
AAP spokesperson Richa Pandey Mishra claimed people had to go back from many polling stations as “several” electronic voting machines (EVM) turned out faulty.
“Many machines were faulty so people had to go back. The areas where faults were reported include Mangolpuri, Patparganj and many areas of south Delhi. In some machines, one could not hear any beep after pressing the AAP button,” she said.
Pandey said the ensuing delay was avoidable as the officials took time to repair the machines.
Following a sluggish start at 8 am, voting gradually picked up and became fairly brisk as the heat waned towards the afternoon. The 2012 MCD polls had registered a 53.23 per cent turnout.
Read: Exit polls predict sweep for BJP in Delhi, AAP staring at rout
The polling passed off peacefully.
State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava told a press conference that North corporation’s Bakhtawarpur ward recorded the highest turnout at over 68 per cent, while south Delhi’s Lado Sarai registered the least turnout at 39 per cent.
He said 18 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were replaced owing to battery or button related issues.
“Out of 13,000 polling stations, EVMs were changed in only 18 polling stations. It shows our EVMs are unhackable, robust and no wrong can be done,” Srivastava said.
However, Kejriwal alleged in a tweet, “Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing? (sic).”
Arvind Kejriwal had earlier demanded that the election be postponed till arrangements for voter-verified paper audit trail or VVPAT-equipped electronic voting machines (EVMs) were made.
Polling was held in 270 of the 272 wards of the three municipal corporations. The election to two wards has been postponed due to the death of candidates.
A total of 1,32,10,206 voters were entitled to exercise their franchise in electing councillors for the 270 wards falling under the three corporations – NDMC (103), SDMC (104) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (63).
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh was asked to leave a booth in Janakpuri by a polling official when he was talking to reporters inside the booth premises.
“You are done with voting so leave now,” the official was seen telling Singh in a video that was shared by hundreds on social media. Queries to Singh did not elicit any response.
