Lagatar24 Desk
Lucknow, March 9: Smajwadi Party chairman Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Tuesday that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were transferred illegally in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the March 10 vote counting.
Now on Wednesday morning, the party uploaded a video in which Varanasi’s Commissioner Deepak Agarwal appears to be assuring media that there was really a lapse in protocol in the movement of EVMs, substantiating the accusation. He swiftly clarified, however, that the devices in question were only for training purposes.
“If you talk about the protocol for the movement of EVMs, there was a lapse in the protocol, I accept that. But I can guarantee that it is impossible to take away machines used in voting. There is three-grade security. Political party workers can even sit outside the centres to keep an eye,” he said.
EVM मूवमेंट में चुनाव आयोग के प्रोटोकॉल का पालन नहीं किया गया- कमिश्नर वाराणसी
कई जिलों में ईवीएम में हेरा-फेरी की जानकारी प्राप्त हो रही है। ये किसके इशारे पर हो रहा है? क्या अधिकारियों पर सीएम ऑफिस से दबाव बनाया जा रहा है?
चुनाव आयोग कृपया स्पष्ट करे @ECISVEEP @ceoup pic.twitter.com/D71xr8h8Tu
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 9, 2022
The Samajwadi Party stated in a tweet that reports of EVM tampering had been received from numerous areas across the state.
“At whose behest is this happening? Are officers being pressurised by the Chief Minister’s Office? Election Commission, please clarify,” the party wrote.