VVPAT machines develop snags at Majitha, Amritsar South constituency

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 4

Thousands of electorate at the Majitha and South Assembly segments had to wait for hours to cast their votes, as a large number of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, installed for the first time in the ongoing Assembly elections, today developed technical snags.

As many as 386 VVPATs were made available in Majitha and 366 in Amritsar South.

The VVPAT machines remained a headache for the staff at polling booths at many places, as the polling was delayed due to technical snags in the machines. In the border district, the VVPAT machines were used in Majitha and Amritsar South constituency only.

The 1,51,165 electorate of Majitha, a predominantly rural Assembly constituency in which one town and 128 villages fall, woke up to a chilly morning as cold, high-velocity winds brought down the temperature.

Coupled with chilly winds, faulty machines delayed the voting process, which was clearly visible from the voting rate released by the Election Commission. As 68 per cent polling was recorded, which was considerably down from 80.77 per cent recorded in the 2012 Assembly election.

Listless, 19 per cent voting was recorded till 12 noon. In the next two hours, 19 per cent more polling was reported. As much as 59 per cent voting was recorded in the Majitha Assembly constituency till 4 pm.

Similarly, a slow pace of polling was seen in the South Assembly constituency that recorded 60 per cent polling, which was 63.55 per cent in the 2012 Assembly election.

The constituency is witnessing a triangular contest as Akali rebel Inderbir Singh Bolaria is contesting as the Congress candidate. The SAD has fielded Gurpratap Singh Tikka and AAP has given the ticket to a greenhorn, Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar.

Polling at two polling booths in Waryam Nangal village in the Baba Bakala Assembly constituency began two and a half hours behind the schedule after an error surfaced in the EVMs.