She protested when the electronic voting machine (EVM) developed a glitch and demanded a repoll. When officials at the polling booth declined, she went to higher authorities and made them order a repoll. But when the repolling took place, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Anita Pratap , a candidate in Kerala’s Ernakulam constituency, went missing. The former journalist was apparently in Tokyo holidaying with her family when the repoll was held in booth No. 118 on Wednesday.

The EVM at the booth malfunctioned on 10 April when the state went to the polls, after 73.4% of the votes had been cast. By that time, of the 1,172 voters in the area, 860 had cast their votes. The officials replaced the machine and extra time was allotted to make up for the time lost, but Pratap along with her party colleagues insisted on a repoll. She then wrote to the Election Commission, and requested the poll panel to schedule the repoll after 21 April.

AAP leaders in the state claimed that the trip had been pre-planned and Pratap went to Tokyo to join her husband and family.

Angry over her absence, someone from the opposition parties placed a huge banner near the polling booth in Kalamassery, asking ‘Where is Anita Pratap?’ The banner annoyed AAP workers, whose protests led to minor tension in the area. The police then removed the banner.

“This is ridiculous. She is the one who demanded repolling and all of us have to be present there. But she is holidaying," said a local Congress leader. Not taking any chances, Congress candidate and union minister K.V. Thomas visited all 423 houses in the locality to meet the voters in person before the repoll. The independent candidate backed by the Left parties, Christy Fernandez, also did so. Thomas, who has to leave for an official trip abroad, was forced to return to Kochi from New Delhi on Tuesday night just for a day to be present in front of the polling booth.

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