The Election Commission today ordered repolling at 48 polling stations of Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency and the five assembly segments, including a seat from which SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia is contesting, following malfunctioning in VVPATs and EVMs during February 4 elections.
The repoll will be held on February 9. It was ordered in the wake of the malfunctioning of Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in these stations during the polling.
The repolling has been ordered at 12 polling stations of Majitha Assembly seat, nine each of Muktsar and Sangrur, one each of Moga and Sardulgarh and 16 polling stations of Amritsar Parliamentary constituency, official said.
"The repolling will take place at 48 polling stations because of the malfunctioning that occurred in some VVPATs and EVMs on the polling day. The repolling will take place on February 9," Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said.
Singh said the polling hours shall be from 8 AM to 5 PM and all the voters queued up till 5 PM at the polling stations can cast their votes.
Punjab CEO said necessary arrangements have been made and election material, EVMs, security and poll staff in adequate numbers have been deputed for this task.
"The central paramilitary force will be deployed at each polling station and no outsider will be allowed to stay," he said.
Despite facing problems in VVPAT, the Election Commission said they will be used during the repoll.
"VVPATs will be used during the repoll. A total of 47 VVPATs will be deployed at the polling stations and sufficient numbers of machines have been kept as reserve," he said.
Problem in VVPAT was witnessed in Majithia, Muktsar and Sangrur assembly segments while EVMs were found faulty in Moga and Sardulgarh segments.
No VVPAT was used in Sardulgarh segment, said CEO.
EC had used VVPAT for the first time in Punjab at 6,668 polling stations in 33 Assembly segments and two segments in Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
During the mock polls, 538 VVPATs were replaced while during polling 187 VVPATs were replaced.
Polling was affected at 25 polling stations in Majitha and ten each in Sangrur and Muktsar because of VVPAT malfunctioning.
VVPAT generates a receipt and allows people to verify the vote went in favour of the candidate against whose name the button was pressed on the electronic voting machine.
In one polling station each of Moga and Sardulgarh segments, EVMs had displayed the votes cast during mock polls despite the polling beginning at 8 AM.
CEO said the officials at polling station in Moga and Sardulgrah where problems in EVM surfaced, maintained that they had pressed the 'clear' button to clear the votes polled during mock polls.
"But we shall conduct the post mortem (of machines which
malfunctioned) after the counting of votes to know the reason...We will do our internal study," he said.
Asked if any candidate or political party objected to repoll, Singh said nobody has registered any complaint in this regard.
CEO said all the Returning Officers and Observers concerned have been instructed to act accordingly. The political parties and contesting candidates have also been intimated about the repoll as per the directions of Election Commission of India.
The ECI has ordered paid leave wherever the repoll is announced on February 9 to facilitate the voters to exercise their franchise, said Singh.
An official spokesperson of the state election office said canvassing, poll campaigning, election-related meetings and gathering could be done till 5 PM today in the constituency segments where repolls were announced.
Thereafter, candidates can go for door-to-door campaigning.
Notably, the Election Commission had even sought a report from the state election authorities about the malfunctioning of VVPATs which caused delay in voting.
After VVPATs developed snag, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had attacked election commission and tweeted, "Never has any election seen malfunctioning EVMs on such a large scale. Was it mischief done deliberately by or in collusion with EC."
AAP leader Sanjay Singh had even raised the matter with Punjab CEO, demanding extension in time where polling was affected because of VVPAT problem.
From Majitha seat, Cabinet minister and Akali candidate Bikram Singh Majithia is locked in a contest against Congress and AAP candidates Sukhjinder Raj Singh Lalli and Himmat Singh Shergill respectively.
From Muktsar, Congress has fielded Karan Kaur while SAD and AAP have fielded Kanwarjit Singh and Jagdeep Singh respectively.
From Sangrur, Congress's nominee is Vijay Inder Singla while SAD has fielded Parkash Chand Garg and AAP has nominated Dinesh Bansal.
In Moga, Congress has fielded Harjot Kamal Singh against Akali candidate Barjinder Singh and AAP candidate Ramesh Grover.
From Sardulgarh seat, the fight is between Congress candidate Ajit Inder Singh, AAP's Sukhwinder Singh and Akali candidate Dilraj Singh.
From Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, the poll fight is between BJP's Rajindermohan Singh Chhina, Congress's G S Aujla and AAP's Upkar Sandhu.
