In a suspected sabotage bid in Kerala’s crucial civic election, electronic voting machines (EVMs) in hundreds of booths in Malappuram, stronghold of the Muslim league, and Thrissur districts developed “strange” snags amidst voting on Thursday in the second and final phase of the election.
The development necessitated repolling on Friday in 114 booths in the two districts.As per the estimates of the State Election Commission, 76.86 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in the seven districts where voting was held on Thursday but the percentage was expected to go up as the final calculations came. In the 2010 local bodies polls, these seven districts had registered 75.49 per cent voter turnout.
With this, the total turnout in the civic poll was recorded as 77.35 per cent. Heavy rains had slowed down polling in several booths on Thursday morning. In the second phase, polling was held in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram districts. The other seven districts of the State had gone to poll in the first-phase polling on Monday. Counting of votes will take place on Saturday.
The suspected sabotage bid was noticed in over 300 booths in Malappuram and Thrissur about half an hour after voting started on Thursday morning. According to the Election Commission, the EVMs showed “press error” by which only one particular button could be pressed as machines had allegedly been tampered with using paper, stickers, adhesive tapes and gum.
The incident led to a row between the Election Commission and the District Administration in Malappuram with the former saying that the problem was not technical or natural but there could have been external interference. The District Administration also failed to notify the EC of the matter in time, it was alleged. The commission wanted a comprehensive probe into the matter.
The ‘bid’ was noticed mostly in the booths of those wards in Malappuram district where the Congress, leader of the ruling UDF, and the Muslim league, second biggest partner of the front, were in direct confrontation. The incident led to intense protests from political parties but the UDF took a position that this need not be connected to problems in the coalition.
The incident led to immediate suspension of polling in hundreds of booths and the EC undertook efforts to continue polling by replacing the machines with fresh ones but this was successful only partially. As a result, hundreds of voters were seen waiting in queues at each of the affected booths even after the close of official polling time.
In an effort to somehow complete the voting, polling was extended till 7.00 PM from 5.00 PM but this was not sufficient to solve the problem. As it became obvious that voting could not be completed, the authorities decided to hold repolling on Friday in 105 booths in Malappuram and nine booths in Thrissur.
The alleged bid to sabotage the polls by manipulating EVMs shocked the authorities, candidates and political leaderships alike. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and CPI(M) Politbureau member Pinarayi Vijayan called for comprehensive probe into the matter even as State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the Government was ready for probe if there was a complaint.
Meanwhile, enthusiastic response by voters was obvious in the polling for village, block and district panchayats and municipalities and city corporations in all the seven districts that went to polls on Thursday at the close of polling. However, the turnout was not as high as it was in the 2010 election.