Malappuram bypoll: cautious EC to ensure double check of EVMs

File photo of officials checking the voting machine ahead of polls. PTI

Malappuram: The Election Commission is exercising utmost caution vis-a-vis electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the run-up to the Malappuram Lok Sabha bypoll in the aftermath of widespread charges about alleged tampering of EVMs.

Technical glitches were reported in EVMs in 446 polling stations in Malappuram during the local body elections last year.

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So far only one verification was conducted in EVMs, but this time the EC has ordered double check of voting machines.

The EC has directed to conduct mock poll in at least 10 percent of the voting machines supplied in each constituencies.

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The EC has arranged 1,175 EVMs and kept 585 as standby machines. These EVMs were used for the Kerala assembly polls last year.

Apart from 446 polling stations in Malappuram, EVM glitches had led to more than an hour of delay in Kollam, Kasaragod, Thrissur and Kannur districts, leading to a huge uproar.