UP Assembly polls: SP shares vid of Varanasi official admitting EVM protocol 'lapses'; official likely to be suspended

A day after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the Uttar Pradesh government of ’tampering’ with  electronic voting machines (EVMs) and claimed that the Varanasi district magistrate (DM) was illegally transporting them, a video of an official admitting to lapses in the processs surfaced on Twitter.

A Varanasi official will be suspended over alleged violation of rules in the transportation of training EVMs, according to an NDTV report. Sources said the Election Commission of India has ordered action against Varanasi Additional District Magistrate NK Singh over the violation of rules in the transportation of training EVMs.

The city police commissioner admitted to lapses yesterday.

In a statement today, Singh’s boss, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, said the EVMs were supposed to be moved this morning, but the official who is now suspended, had taken them out the night before without informing anyone, NDTV’s report said.

Sharing a video on Twitter, the Samajwadi Party demanded that the election commission inquire if the officials were being pressurized by the chief minister’s office.

Here’s the video tweeted by the Samajwadi Party:

EVM मूवमेंट में चुनाव आयोग के प्रोटोकॉल का पालन नहीं किया गया- कमिश्नर वाराणसी

कई जिलों में ईवीएम में हेरा-फेरी की जानकारी प्राप्त हो रही है। ये किसके इशारे पर हो रहा है? क्या अधिकारियों पर सीएम ऑफिस से दबाव बनाया जा रहा है?

चुनाव आयोग कृपया स्पष्ट करे @ECISVEEP @ceoup pic.twitter.com/D71xr8h8Tu

— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 9, 2022

Firstpost could not independently verify the veracity of the video.

In the video, Varanasi’s Commissioner Deepak Agarwal can be seen saying that the EVMs that were moved were only for training purposes, however, he appears to admit towards the end that there was a breach in protocol in the transportation of the EVMs.

The commissioner said, “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 on.”

In a tweet aimed at reiterating his claim of EVM fraud, Yadav on Wednesday asked the voters to treat the counting centres as “pilgrimage of democracy” and make it impossible for the ruling party to manipulate the election results.

Akhilesh tweeted:

मतगणना केंद्रों को ‘लोकतंत्र का तीर्थ’ समझकर वहाँ जाएं और डटे रहें और सत्तापक्ष द्वारा चुनाव परिणाम में हेराफेरी की हर साज़िश को असंभव बना दें!

सपा-गठबंधन की जीत हो रही है, तभी तो भाजपाई धांधली की कोशिश कर रहे हैं।

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) March 9, 2022

According to a report by news agency ANI, hours after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that electronic voting machine (EVM) is being tampered and Varanasi district magistrate is transporting it without informing local candidates, UP State Election Commission has denied the allegation and said the EVMs shown in a video were for “training purpose”. Earlier, Yadav had alleged that the state election commission officials are tampering with EVMs and Varanasi district magistrate is transporting them without informing the local candidates. As per ANI, replying to this allegations, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), in a press release, said, “Some political parties have brought to our attention that a few EVMs were being transported in a vehicle in Varanasi district. On investigation, it was found that these EVMs were for training purpose. These EVMs were being taken to training locations at a college in the state on March 9, 2022 and were kept at a foodgrains warehouse. " The CEO further said, “During the transportation of these EVMs, some members of a political party stopped the vehicle and started spreading rumours that vehicle contains EVMs meant for counting of votes.” Following the allegations, Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma held a meeting with representatives of several political parties on Tuesday. Sharma said, “About 20 EVMs were being taken to UP College for training. Some political people stopped the vehicle and spread rumours by saying that these EVMs were used in elections. Whereas the strong room is different and this EVM machine caught is different. Tomorrow is the second training of the employees deputed for counting duty and these machines are always used in training for hands-on training.” He said the above-mentioned 20 EVMs were not used in polling and were being sent for training purposes, ANI said in a report.

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