Amid allegations by the Congress that electronic voting machines or EVMs malfunctioned in several parts of Gujarat in the first phase of assembly elections today, the Election Commission said on Saturday afternoon that about 0.5 per cent of the total ballot units and control units - which make up the EVM - had to be replaced during voting. That is about 181 ballot units and 223 control units, apart from 714 VVAPT or the voter verified paper audit trail machines.
Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti said, "Overall number looks large, but as proportion of total much less machines were found faulty. They were replaced."
Gujarat Election 2017: Kutch, Saurashtra and south Gujarat voted in Phase 1 of Gujarat polls.
Asserting that the Congress is headed for a win in Gujarat, its senior leader Ahmed Patel said, "if there is some problem with the EVM or any mischief only then can there be a problem...Otherwise there is not a shred of doubt that Congress will win this time...Wherever there are complaints about EVMs, they should be fixed."
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dismissed the allegations, saying, "Whenever EVMs are used, and since they are used in thousands of polling booths, then sometimes complaints come from a few booths of machines malfunctioning. And the Election Commission has arrangements, it is not as if it is happening for the first time."
The Election Commission has denied the allegations, asserting that EVMs are secure and tamper-proof.
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