Police personnel guard the counting venue of the DUSU poll elections in New Delhi on Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal) Police personnel guard the counting venue of the DUSU poll elections in New Delhi on Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

Amid reports of EVM malfunctioning and allegations of tampering in the DU students’ union election, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Delhi said that the machines used in the polls were not allotted by the Election Commission and were “procured privately”.

Counting was suspended for five hours on Thursday after a fault in the display of one EVM was reported and students alleged that the machines were rigged. When counting was stopped, NSUI was leading on two seats — president and secretary.

Following objections from AAP-backed CYSS, All India Students’ Association (AISA) and ABVP, counting resumed in the evening.

“With reference to captions being shown in some news channels regarding use of EVMs in the elections of DUSU, I am directed to inform that the EVMs in question are not of Election Commission as no such EVMs have been allotted/issued to DU by this office. It was also confirmed from the state election commission that no such machines have been given by them too,” said the statement issued by the office of the CEO.

Read | Delhi University Students’ Union polls: ABVP bags 3 of 4 posts after day of drama

“It seems that DU has procured these machines privately. A detailed report… will be sent subsequently as all officials of DU are… busy in their election process at present,” it added. According to DU officials, EVMs were bought from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited and used for the first time in 2007.

“We bought the EVMs from Electronics Corporation of India Limited, a government enterprise. Engineers from the company come every year to service the EVMs before polls, and engineers are also placed at every centre during polling,” said a senior official.

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