The Election Commission on Saturday clarified the accusations made by the Trinamool Congress regarding five Electronic Voting Machines with "BJP tags" found in Bankura, West Bengal.
The poll body said that there were no party representatives present when the EVMs were commissioned except for BJP so the tag did not mention other party names.
What Did TMC Say?
In a post on X, TMC wrote, "Smt. @MamataOfficial has repeatedly flagged how @BJP4India was trying to rig votes by tampering with EVMs."
They then stated that five machines with 'BJP tags' were found on Friday.
"And today, in Bankura's Raghunathpur, 5 EVMs were found with BJP tags on them.@ECISVEEP should immediately look into it and take corrective action!", the post added.
How Did Election Commission Respond?
Within hours of notifying on X, the Official handle of Chief Electoral Office, West Bengal responded with two posts on the microblogging platform.
They shared an image of EVMwith proper tag and wrote, "While commissioning, common address tags were signed by the Candidates and their agents present. And since only BJP Candidate's representative was present during that time in the commissioning hall, his signature was taken during commissioning of that EVM and VVPAT."
In another post they further added details of the machines and polling booths and assured that the procedure was carried out maintaining official rules.
They said, "However, signature of all the agents present in PS No 56,58, 60, 61,62 was obtained during Poll. All the ECI norms were duly followed during commissioning was done entirely under CCTV coverage and was duly videographer."
Officials told PTI that scattered incidents of violence were reported from some areas in the eight Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal, where polling is underway for the sixth phase on Saturday.
The Election Commission has received 954 complaints until 11 am from different political parties, alleging EVM malfunctions and agents being stopped from entering booths.
The poll panel, however, claimed that voting has been peaceful so far.
Clashes reportedly broke out between supporters of the ruling TMC and BJP in the Ghatal constituency over stopping polling agents from entering the booths.
Among the notable candidates in fray in this phase are Bengali superstar Dev, who is seeking a third term as TMC MP from Ghatal, former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, the BJP candidate in Tamluk, Union minister Subhas Sarkar in Bankura, and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, a BJP legislator, who is pitted against TMC MLA and actor June Malia in Medinipur.
