Guwahati: At least 38 electronic voting machines have been replaced so far during the elections for three Lok Sabha seats in Assam on Saturday due to different types of malfunctioning.
According to the Returning Officers of Silchar, Karimganj and Autonomous District constituencies, maximum number of problems in the machines were detected during mock polling before the onset of the actual process on Saturday morning.
“We have so far replaced 21 EVMs from different polling stations across the constituency. Of these, 19 were changed during the mock poll in the morning,” Silchar Returning Officer Gokul Mohan Hazarika told PTI.
During the mock poll, the election authority has replaced five machines in Lakhipur, four each in Katigora and Dholai, three in Udarband and one each in Silchar, Sonai and Barkhola.
“When the actual polling started, we received complaints from two booths in Katigora. So, we replaced the machines there,” Hazarika said.
In the Karimganj Lok Sabha seat, 13 EVMs were replaced so far from different locations.
“We have replaced 13 machines so far from different places across the constituency. These were changed during the actual polling,” Karimganj Returning Officer Sanjib Gohain Boruah said.
In Autonomous District parliamentary constituency, a total of four machines were replaced till now. “All the four machines had some minor technical defects, but we did not want to take any chance. Of these units, three were changed during the mock poll,” Autonomous District Returning Officer Prasanta Kumar Buragohain said.
He said 2-3 more machines had some very minor issues and those were solved by engineers.
During the first phase of polling in Assam for five Lok Sabha seats on April 7, at least 93 EVMs malfunctioned and replaced, forcing the EC to conduct repolls in six polling stations. (PTI)