EVM breach: EC team gives clean chit to Patiala administration

The two-member team constituted by the Election Commission to probe into the alleged breach of security of electronic voting machines at Patiala constituency in Punjab today gave a clean chit to the district administration.

The team led by Himachal Pradesh chief electoral officer Narinder Chauhan gave a clean chit to the district administration's move of shifting "old" electronic voting machines (EVMs), stating that there was no violation in it.

A delegation led by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had yesterday submitted a memorandum to the poll panel in Delhi alleging that there were "multiple instances of breach in EVMs' safety" in Punjab, where Assembly elections were held recently.
 

The Aam Aadmi Party had alleged that the Nabha Returning Officer (RO) allowed some people to remove EVMs kept in a college building in Patiala.

The EC team arrived in Patiala to assess the security arrangements at the strongrooms. The officials also held a meeting with the representatives of all political parties and returning officers of the district.

Patiala district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Ramvir Singh and SSP S Bhoopati also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Ramvir Singh sought a report from Nabha Returning Officer in connection with the video allegedly made by AAP candidate Gurdev Mann showing EVMs being shifted.

The official said no one was allowed to carry a mobile phone within 100 metres of the area where EVMs were kept.

A probe is on in the incident and the law would take its own course, he said.

Mann, however, retorted that no one stopped him from carrying the mobile phone.

"Now that we have highlighted their misdeeds, they are trying to cover up their mistake," he alleged.

Besides Patiala, AAP had also accused the Returning Officer of Gill assembly segment in Ludhiana of tampering with EVMs kept in the strongroom at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

AAP, which is eyeing to wrest power in the northern state, had also filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, raising questions on the security of EVMs at strongrooms in Jalandhar, Phillaur, Shahkot, Jalandhar West and Tarn Taran.