Assam replaces 150 “complete EVM sets”: official

Assam’s five Lok Sabha seats are holding voting on Friday; as a result, 150 full Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) sets have to be changed, according to authorities.

Additionally, due to issues, over 400 components were changed, including ballot units from various EVMs and VVPATs.

Ninety minutes before the real voting began, during the sample election, most of the malfunctions were discovered, and those voting machines were changed as a result, a senior Election Department official informed PTI.

Six EVMs with the whole set were replaced once the real voting began. at addition, 40 more VVPATs were changed out at other voting places,” he said.

The Control Unit (CU), Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), and Ballot Unit (BU) are the three parts of an electronic voting machine (EVM).

According to the official, 150 whole sets of EVMs were replaced during the mock vote due to malfunctions.

“Apart from the complete sets, 140 CUs, 230 VVPATs and 81 BUs were also replaced individually from different machines across the constituencies,” he said.

The official, however, refused to provide specifics, such as the number of defective EVMs in each constituency.

According to another official, at least three voting places in Bihpuria, Lakhimpur; one each in Hojai, Kaliabor, and Bokakhat; and one in Naharkatia, Dibrugarh, had reported EVM malfunctions.

“The EVM at the Jorbil Baniya LP School booth in Majuli broke down, thus voting didn’t start for an hour until a replacement machine showed up. Voting at two additional Majuli polling places was delayed by almost an hour because of technical issues,” he said.

Similarly, three Mariani voting places saw an approximately hour-long wait due to the breakdown of three EVM units, according to the official.

There are 10,001 voting places in the first phase, of which 92 are model polling places, 11 are PwD-managed, and 752 are run by women. 5,509 voting places are using webcasting.