The allegations about EVM tampering were sorted after the District Election Officer (DEO) scrutinised the complaints in the presence of the political parties here on Friday.
According to Election Commission guidelines, the complaints relating to poll process have to be scrutinised by the DEO and the observers have to provide their report during the scrutiny. Tension broke out at Acharya Vihar and Jharpada on Thursday night when political parties alleged EVM tampering.
Representatives of a political party alleged EVM tampering at a polling station in Acharya Vihar. District Collector and DEO Shalini Pandit said all the complainants were called to the strong room at BJB Autonomous College at 11 am on Friday.
Since the polling booth at Acharya Vihar had live webcasting facility, the complainants were shown the entire footage. Following this, the Congress representative and one of the complainants mentioned the number of votes counted by them at the polling station. When the number was tallied with the Observer for the polling station, it was an exact match, Pandit said.
Similarly, the confusion at Jharpada began when the party representatives spotted a Sector Officer with a batch of four reserve EVMs in his vehicle.
Pandit said the reserve EVMs were kept with the Sector Officer since morning in case of any EVM malfunction. She added that the political party members saw the reserve EVMs while it was being brought back at night and confusion ensued.
The complainants, BJP and Congress party representatives, were then shown the list of reserve EVMs and the EVMs assigned for Jharpada polling station. It was only then that the complainants were satisfied. Eventually, the EVMs were sealed with the signature of all the parties who had complained. The strong room was sealed in their presence, Pandit said.