Trinamool Alleges "BJP Tag" On EVMs In Bengal. Election Commission Replies

The Election Commission today responded to Trinamool Congress's allegation that EVMs "with BJP tags" were used in Bankura district.

Sharing two pictures of EVMs with paper tags with BJP written on them, the Mamata Banerjee-led party posted on X, "Smt. @MamataOfficial has repeatedly flagged how @BJP4India was trying to rig votes by tampering with EVMs. And today, in Bankura's Raghunathpur, 5 EVMs were found with BJP tags on them."

"@ECISVEEP should immediately look into it and take corrective action," the post added.

Responding to the charge, the poll body tweeted, "While commissioning, common address tags were signed by the Candidates and their agents present. And since only BJP Candidate's representative was present during that time in the commissioning hall, his signature was taken during commissioning of that EVM and VVPAT."

"However, signature of all the agents present in PS No 56,58, 60, 61,62 was obtained during Poll. All the ECI norms were duly followed during commissioning was done entirely under CCTV coverage and was duly videographed," it added.

Eight Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal are going to the polls in the sixth phase of the general election today. The BJP, which posted an impressive show in the eastern state last time by winning 18 seats, is banking on increasing its score this time. The Trinamool, on the other hand, is looking to recover some of the seats it lost in the 2019 polls.

The key candidates in these eight Bengal seats include fashion-designer-turned-politican Agnimitra Paul, former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Trinamool's Debangshu Bhattacharya, the head of the Trinamool social media cell who penned its campaign song Khela Hobe.