'5 EVMs found with BJP tags,' claims TMC; shares images
What's the story
The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of tampering with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the ongoing phase six voting of the Lok Sabha Election. The party claims to have found five EVMs with BJP tags in Bankura's Raghunathpur and shared images of these tagged EVMs on X. "The Election Commission of India (ECI) should immediately look into it and take corrective action," the post added.
Twitter Post
Check out TMC's post here
Smt. @MamataOfficial has repeatedly flagged how @BJP4India was trying to rig votes by tampering with EVMs.
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) May 25, 2024
And today, in Bankura's Raghunathpur, 5 EVMs were found with BJP tags on them.@ECISVEEP should immediately look into it and take corrective action! pic.twitter.com/aJwIotHAbX
Response
CEO responds to TMC's allegations
The Chief Electoral Office (CEO) swiftly responded to the TMC's post, writing, "The candidates and their agents present signed common address tags during commissioning." "And since only the BJP candidate's representative was present during that time in the commissioning hall, his signature was taken during the commissioning of that EVM and VVPAT." The poll body further clarified that all norms were followed during commissioning under CCTV coverage, and it was duly videographed.
Previous accusations
Banerjee accused the BJP of planning to switch EVMs
This is not the first time that the TMC has accused the BJP of EVM tampering. On May 1, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of planning to switch out EVMs being used in the ongoing elections with machines that went missing in 2019. "Figures that EC released...show 5.75% more turnout in areas where BJP gets fewer votes. We want to know how this number went up, who makes EVM machines and who manufactures the chips," Banerjee reportedly said.
WB election
Polling underway for 8 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal
Polling is underway for eight Lok Sabha seats in Bengal. The BJP won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 elections, while the TMC managed to win just 22 seats. Other states also voting in the sixth phase are Bihar (eight seats), all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, and 14 in Uttar Pradesh.