Chandigarh: Punjab’s Revenue Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal candidate from Majitha constituency, Bikram Singh Majithia, who is also the brother-in-law of Punjab’s deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, has no time to relax even after most of Punjab voted on February 4. The reason being the Election Commission ordering repolling 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.
"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.
Fighting a tight triangular contest in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party has expressed concerns over security of EVMs in the state.
EVMs across the state are kept in sealed strong rooms that have a dual security system. The outer ring of security is provided by the Punjab Police while immediately near the strong room the central police forces are tasked with maintaining safety.
The fate of 1145 candidates for the 117-strong Punjab Legislative Assembly is sealed in Electronic Voting Machines in strong rooms across the state.
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.
The 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.
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 the 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 the 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.
In order to make sure the VVPATs function properly and objectively, the machines are installed only by engineers of Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) or Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL). Immediately after a voter has cast the vote on the Electronic Voting Machine, a paper slip is printed on the VVPAT machine showing the same choice as the one made by the voter on the EVM. However, the voter cannot take the slip home and instead it falls into a sealed drop box. In case of a doubt, a candidate can ask the concerned Returning Officer to unseal the printed paper slips and count them manually to tally with the votes cast on the EVM. The decision to do this is the discretion of the Returning Officer.
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.
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