Seeking to put to rest the controversy over EVMs in Sagar, the Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the Congress' charge of "suspicious arrival" of the voting machines in an unmarked bus to the district treasury office. It said the bus which was pointed out as “unmarked” (without any number) by the Congress, was officially requisitioned from the local municipality in Sagar on November 15 itself. The EC also showed that the Congress candidate had signed the punchnama for the safe deposit of the EVMs in the district treasury office.
In its complaint to EC, Congress MP Vivek Tankha had claimed that 48 hours after the closing of polls in Madhya Pradesh, a school bus bearing no number plate and carrying EVMs reached the Sagar district collector's office. "This incident is a clear case of certain parties and individuals engaging in corrupt practices to manipulate the outcome of the recently concluded election," Congress had said.
"There has not been any tampering whatsoever with the machines. The responsible Nayab Tehsildar and Assistant Returning Officer Rajesh Mehra have been suspended for the delayed submission of the machines," the EC said. The Commission also removed Vikas Singh, returning officer of Khurai constituency and placed Tanvi hooda in his place.
According to EC, Naib Tehsildar and Mehra were given the duty to bring these reserved EVMs and deposit the same.
"These machines were brought were brought in four vehicles, three bearing numbers MP-15-A-4636, MP-15-BA-0559, MP-15-40GA-0970 and one without any number belonging to the local municipality which had been requisitioned for election duty. 50-Bus, 26-CUs and 42 VVPAT in Khurai constituency were deposited on November 30 in the district treasury office, Sagar. A verification of the list of these deposited machines has been done by tallying their numbers with the overall list of the reserved machines and no discrepancy is noticed," the EC said in its order.
Earlier, Tankha had claimed, "The objective of this was ostensibly to deposit these machines with the office of the collector. Thesespare EVMs were to be deposited two hours after the polls and not after two days. This happened in the Khuria seat from where the State Home Minister is contesting the polls."