NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday sought an inquiry over the alleged breach of security of EVMs at strong rooms in Punjab, where polling was held recently. A delegation led by Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia submitted a memorandum alleging that there are multiple instances of breach in EVMs safety in the state.
"We have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner where we have pointed out that there have been security breaches in strong rooms where the EVMs are kept. We also mentioned that the May 2015 notification of the EC, which lists out instructions regarding the storage, physical verification and movements of EVMs is not being complied with," Sisodia said.
Sisodia alleged that the returning officer, along with a few other officials entered the strong rooms on the pretext of procuring certain documents and later it was found that they were moving steel boxes in which the EVMs were kept. We have demanded an enquiry into the matter, he said.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha alleged that in some districts EVMs are kept in schools where there is regular movement of teachers.
The lackadaisical approach with which the returning officers in Punjab are following the instructions of the EC requires urgent attention, said the letter submitted by the AAP leaders.
“As per the May 2015 notification, there has to be uninterrupted power supply to strongrooms and EVM warehouses so that the CCTV cameras are operational 24x7 and any movement can be captured…But there have been instances of no electricity for three hours in some places which is a violation of the rules and needs to be looked at," Chadha said.