NEW DELHI: The Congress candidate from Ghaziabad, Dolly Sharma, alleged bogus voting, malfunctioning EVMs, and poll violations in a minority-dominated area during Friday’s second phase of the Lok Sabha polling.
Sharma has specifically identified the EVM in Ghaziabad’s booth number 335, which has allegedly been shut for the last two hours, in her complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on X.
She has directly alleged that several voters in minority-dominated areas were threatened. Following this, the Samajwadi Party (SP) also tagged the ECI on X and made a direct claim that they had received information about EVM malfunction at booth number 282 of Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency, “which is a Muslim-dominated area. The party has stated that the poll panel should take immediate action and ensure fair voting.
In the afternoon, Sharma again complained about EVM malfunction in Vijay Nagar’s Sardar Patel School in Ghaziabad. She even alleged that “bogus voting” was conducted at the booth.
Further in the evening, she posted another complaint, saying, “Every hour, the electricity of Vikas Modern School in Shaheed Nagar in Sahibabad area is being cut off. Why is this so? Is this what is called a free and fair election?”
She had also posted on X stating, “Sardar Patel School , Vijay nagar mein 45 minute se machine band hai , aur booths par farzi vote daali jaa rahi hai @ECISVEEP aapke sahayak returning officer phone bhi nahi utha rahe hain . #Ghaziabad @ghaziabadpolice.”
However, responding to her post, DM Ghaziabad stated, “Voting was halted due to a malfunction of VVPAT; now it is going on smoothly. Also, the information about bogus voting is baseless.”
Ghaziabad recorded over 49 per cent of voting. This time the BJP has fielded legislator Atul Garg, the Congress — contesting the polls as the INDIA bloc constituent — picking Dolly Sharma, and BSP nominating Nandkishor Pundhir.