Glitches in EVMs, VVPATs delay Karnataka polling

Bengaluru, April 23 (IANS) Glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) in many polling stations delayed or held up voting initially in Karnataka's remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats, said an official on Tuesday.

"Though there are reports from some booths about glitches in EVMs or VVPATs, they have been rectified or replaced to begin or resume voting," joint chief electoral officer A.V. Surya Sen told IANS here.

Voting was underway in all the 14 parliamentary constituencies across the western and northern parts of the state since 7 a.m. under tight security.

According to information received from the presiding and assistant returning officers in the respective constituencies, polling could not begin in one of the booths in Bagalkot seat due to an EVM malfunctioning.

Similarly, a glitch in a VVPAT held up voting in booth number 106 at Hubbali in Dharwad seat in the state's northwest region for about 30 minutes.

"We have enough spare EVMs and VVPATs in every assembly segment of the parliamentary seats to replace faulty machines or printers to ensure voting is not held up. Technical personnel are at every booth to assist the presiding officers to rectify or replace the ballot or controlling units," said Sen.

EVMs and VVPATs malfunction were also reported from Belgaum, Bellary (ST), Bidar, Bijapur (SC) Chikkodi, Davanagere, Gulbarga (SC), Koppal and Raichur (ST).

"We have 25 per cent redundancy in every constituency to minimise delays due to glitches. Complaints of malfunctioning of EVMs or VVPATs account for 0.25 per cent of their total in operation," state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told IANS.

There are 28,022 polling stations across the two regions, including 216 all-women ('sakhi') and 39 ethnic booths for gender and tribal empowerment.