EVMs found in a car parked near eatery in Solapur

Kolhapur: Two sets of electronic voting machines, each with a ballot unit and control unit, were found inside a private SUV at a roadside eatery in Solapur's Mohol town, around five hours after the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polling ended at 5.30pm on Saturday. Election authorities, however, said the electronic voting machines (EVMs) concerned were from the reserved stock and not those used for polling.After the EVMs were found inside the SUV parked near the dhaba (eatery), NCP's Solapur district president Umesh Patil went to the spot and called the election officers. Later, a team of poll officers, led by Seema Holkar, the election returning officer for Mohol, came and took the EVMs into custody."After the polling ended, we called for the reserve EVMs to be submitted. However, the zonal officer, in whose possession these EVMs were, realised that he had left them in a vehicle hired for election duty. We then called the driver, but the driver said that he had left the SUV with the vehicle's owner. The owner runs a paan shop near the dhaba, and he told the zonal officers to get there themselves, as he was busy. Meanwhile, some people found the EVMs in the vehicle. We are sure all the polled EVMs were immediately taken to the strong room. The EVMs found are reserved ones, which means they can be used only if the other EVMs malfunction."Patil, however, demanded fresh polling for the booth to which the EVMs belonged. "We are suspicious of the conduct of the election. There are high chances that these so-called reserved EVMs are the ones actually used, and the ones brought to the counting centre may contain pre-filled data. Therefore, to remove doubts from the minds of voters, fresh polling should be held for the particular booth," said Patil, addressing the media at Mohol on Sunday.The SEC has issued a statement stating that the zonal officers and others responsible for not submitting the EVMs on time will face strict action. The SEC stated the EVMs were reserved for Kurul division of Solapur ZP.