Kolkata: Two incumbent members of parliament from India’s Congress party were stuck after the voting machines they were using malfunctioned in West Bengal on Thursday.
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury and Mausam Benazir Noor could not cast their votes due to malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), and were forced to go and vote at other polling booths within the six constituencies that went to the polls on Thursday.
“This is the first time I could not cast my vote because the EVM in the booth was malfunctioning. A lot of time has elapsed and voting has not taken place so automatically there has to be a re-polling here,” said Choudhury, a union minister.
Noor, who also could not exercise her franchise, said she has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission to arrange for fresh voting at the station.
In the Balurghat constituency, in South Dinajpur district, voters complained that whichever button they pressed, the vote was being registered in Trinamool Congress’s name.
Though the poll panel blamed the error on machinery, the Congress party accused the ruling TMC of trying to rig the polls.
“There has been widespread rigging and false voting in the area. The EVM has been tampered with to ensure that TMC wins,” said Congress candidate, Om Prakash Mishra.
In another incident, President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee, has been accused of trying to bribe voters with money ahead of the polls.
Mukherjee who is contesting from the Jangipur constituency, which was earlier represented by his father is facing a major challenge as he won the by-poll with a wafer thin margin of just 2,500 votes. “They are using money power to win. But all this will not work out, people are angry with the Congress,” a district TMC leader said.