Guwahati Dews Desk: The Election Commission (EC) suspends four poll officials for transporting electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the vehicle of a BJP candidate in Assam’s Karimganj district on Friday.
The video where a crowd was seen seizing the car is highly circulated on social media. EVMs were being transported in the vehicle of BJP MLA Krishnendu Paul from Patharkandi after the EC car had broken down forcing them to take the lift.
According to sources, an FIR has been lodged on unknown persons who attacked the car carrying the polled EVM.
Criticizing the act, Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked the EC to act accordingly. Priyanka in her tweets wrote, “Every time there is an election video of private vehicles caught transporting EVM’s show up. Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates; the videos are taken as one-off incidents and dismissed as aberrations; The BJP uses its media machinery to accuse those who exposed the videos as sore losers.”
“The fact is that too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them. The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVM’s needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she added.
Meanwhile, retweeting the video Ripun Bora, the Assam Congress chief said, “We expect the Election Commission to take immediate action and explain how this could happen. The Congress party will consider boycotting the election if this open loot and rigging of EVMs do not stop immediately.”
