A day after Akhilesh Yadav alleged officials were illegally transferring electronic voting machines in Varanasi, the Samajwadi Party is continuing to raise allegations of tampering. Counting of votes in the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh will be done on Thursday.
On Tuesday evening, Akhilesh Yadav, the chief of the Samajwadi Party, accused the BJP of trying to “steal” votes and claimed a truck carrying EVMs was “intercepted” in Varanasi.
On Wednesday morning, the Samajwadi Party tweeted a video clip of Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agarwal speaking about the incident on Tuesday.
Agarwal was quoted by NDTV as saying “If you talk about the protocol for the movement of EVMs, there was a lapse in the protocol, I accept that. But I can guarantee you, it is impossible to take away machines used in voting... Political party workers can even sit outside the centres to keep an eye.”
Agarwal had insisted the EVMs in question were only meant for training purposes.
The Samajwadi Party tweeted Agarwal's statement was an admission that “protocol was not followed” on the movement of EVMs.
Demanding the Election Commission clarify, the Samajwadi Party tweeted, “Information about EVM tampering is being received in many districts. At whose behest is this happening? Are the officers being pressurised from the CM Office?”
Late on Tuesday night, the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh issued a statement that noted “rumour was spread by people of some political party by stopping the vehicle and alleging that these EVMs were used in elections. According to the report sent by the district election officer (of Varanasi), it was found during the investigation that these EVMs were marked for training. To train the officials involved in counting duty, training has been organised for March 9 (Wednesday).”
