Nearly nine crore voters are casting their votes in 51 Lok Sabha seats spread across seven states. However, as expected, complaints of EVM malfunctioning have once again marred the voting process in several states including West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
EVM and VVPAT were reported to have malfunctioned in Amethi and Rae Bareli with problems being detected in EVMs in at least 5 polling booths in Rae Bareli and VVPATs not functioning at two polling booths in Amethi, where Congress President Rahul Gandhi is contesting from. EVM glitches were also being reported from Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda and Lucknow constituencies.
VVPAT machines had stopped working at the polling booth in Rajasthan’s Jaipur, where Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was casting his vote.
#ElectionTracker: VVPAT machines stop working at the polling booth where @Ra_THORe is waiting to cast his vote. @payalmehta100 reports from Rajasthan.
Follow live updates on #Phase5 here: https://t.co/c85oeF9qQO pic.twitter.com/lia25Q0jFx
— News18.com (@news18dotcom) May 6, 2019
Polling was delayed in West Bengal’s Barrackpore and Howrah districts because of glitches in EVMs. News agency reported that at 7.38 am polling was yet to begin in booths 289/ 291/292 in Howrah because of EVM and VVPAT glitches.
Voting has not started yet in Booth no 289/ 291/(Howrah) voters expressing discontent/ officers saying glitch in vvpat and evms…Bengal people dying to see one peaceful phase…Buck up#LokSabhaElections2019 #Phase5 #areportersdiary pic.twitter.com/XK7XfCTbxv
— joymala bagchi (@joymalabagchi) May 6, 2019
West Bengal’s Serampore, booth number 216 and 217 at the Chump Sadya Parmayam Vidyalaya polling booth witnessed EVM malfunctioning and voting had to be stopped.
In Bihar’s Saran, according to Zee News, polling was delayed at booth number 26 and 27 due to EVM glitches at Middle School polling centre. BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy was there to cast his vote at the polling booth.
News agency ANI reported that one Ranjit Paswan was arrested on charges of vandalizing an EVM machine at polling booth number 131 in Chhapra.
Bihar: One Ranjit Paswan arrested on charges of vandalizing an EVM machine at polling booth number 131 in Chhapra. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/0mqrXc4mjT
— ANI (@ANI) May 6, 2019
Investor Arvind Jha tweeted the photo of EVM malfunctioning while voting in his native village in Bihar. The polling booth in question was booth number 250 Rahika village of Madhubani.
How many EVM “malfunctions” donwe expect today? Which party would get the vote when the EVM “functions”?#PollingDay is #EVM_MalfunctionDay
ps – pic from my village where EVM malfunction delayed start by 1.5 hours. pic.twitter.com/M0KtQkF4wz
— Arvind Jha (@jalajboy) May 6, 2019
In Madhya Pradesh, where seven seats are going for polls, minor EVM glitches were being reported at some booths, reported news agency PTI.
EVM and VVPAT malfunctioning have dominated the election process of this year’s Lok Sabha polls almost in every single phase. This has given rise to demands that the Election Commission must increase the percentage of mandatory matching of VVPAT machines with the total votes counted in EVMs.