The ruckus about EVMs is increasing in Varanasi. Samajwadi Party and SubhaSP submitted a memorandum regarding this to the Election Commission in Lucknow. The Samajwadi Party has demanded the Election Commission to take action against the District Election Officer, taking cognizance of the EVM manipulation in Varanasi and the video of plain ballot paper outside the strongroom in Bareilly.
SP State President Naresh Uttam, SubhaSP President Om Prakash Rajbhar, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary and senior leader KK Srivastava met Additional Chief Electoral Officer Brahmdev Tiwari on Tuesday night and submitted a memorandum.
After meeting the returning officer, Omprakash Rajbhar while talking to the media said that today three vehicles came out with EVMs in Banaras. The EVMs were covered with sacks. Two vehicles ran away but one vehicle was stopped by our workers. Rajbhar said that the guide line of the Election Commission is that if any EVM comes out from the strong room premises, then the candidate should be notified about it, the district president should be informed.
Apart from this, EVMs can be moved with force. But this has been done with the intention of changing EVMs from theft. As long as the DM and the commissioner are there, the counting of votes cannot be fair.
Rajbh said that we have told our point to the Election Commission. We will not allow counting of votes there until both the officials are removed.
Rajbhar claimed that the Election Commission has assured that we will make alternative arrangements. We now have to see what the system is like. Our job is to inform them and their job is to make arrangements for its completion.
what is the whole matter
Samajwadi Party workers claim to have caught a vehicle full of EVMs in Banaras. The pick-up van was surrounded by SP workers and started protest by closing the main gate of Pahariya Mandi. On the other hand, the district administration has said, “These are not EVMs used in elections. The EVMs that were used in the elections are all sealed in the strong room in the possession of CRPF and there is CCTV surveillance, which is being watched by people of all political parties. District Election Officer Kaushal Raj Sharma and Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh reached the spot and tried to convince the candidates by calling them. Late night observers also reached the spot but till 12 o’clock in the night the matter could not be settled.
EVMs were going for training
In a statement issued by the administration, it has been said that for training, EVMs were being taken to UP College from the storage in a separate food godown located in Mandi, which was stopped by some political people and spread rumors by calling them EVMs used in elections. Tomorrow is the second training of the employees engaged in counting duty and for hands on training these machines are always used in training.
SP appointed in-charge to monitor EVMs
In view of the possibility of rigging in EVMs, SP has also appointed in-charge for monitoring of EVMs. These have been appointed in all the districts and metros. In this regard, state president Naresh Uttam has sent a letter to all the district heads as well as the in-charges.