assembly-elections

Updated: Oct 21, 2019 22:54 IST

On polling day in Maharashtra, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) worker on Monday threw ink on an electronic voting machine (EVM) at a polling booth in Thane district. As the man, Sunil Khambe, was being taken away by police, he shouted slogans against EVMs, demanding they be replaced by ballot papers. He even called them a “ mockery of democracy”.

“EVMs should be replaced with ballot papers. This is the demand of the people of the country. EVMs murdabad (down with EVMs),” Khambe, who screamed to reporters before being whisked away to a nearby police station, was quoted saying so by news agency PTI.

The BSP worker threw ink on the machine after he had cast his vote in the Assembly polls in progress statewide, an official said.

#WATCH Thane: A Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader, Sunil Khambe threw ink on the EVM at a polling booth while voting for #MaharashtraAssemblyPolls was underway today. He was raising slogans of "EVM murdabad" & "EVM nahi chalega". He was later taken to a police station by police. pic.twitter.com/92MnGO2IEa — ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2019

A video of his act was widely circulated soon after on social media.

Electronic Voting Machines have been at the centre of a debate between the ruling BJP and opposition parties, with the latter claiming that its tampering was resulting in a string of robust victories for the saffron party, including in the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

In September, BSP chief Mayawati blamed the electronic voting machine for the defeat of the party candidate in Hamirpur assembly by-poll. She had directly blamed the EVMs even after the Lok Sabha election results in May.

In Maharashtra, the provisional voter turnout was 60.5%. Soon after voting ended, five exit polls predicted that the BJP would return to power in both the states, with some predicting an outright sweep. They also suggested a dismal Congress performance.