After the incident the election process was stopped for some time. After some time, the booth officials managed to bring other machines in place of the burnt EVMs and only then the voting started again. The police arrested the youth and he has been taken for further investigation.
महाराष्ट्र के सोलापुर में पोलिंग बूथ पर शख्स ने 3 EVM को लगाई आग
In a shocking incident on Tuesday afternoon, a man sprayed petrol at a polling booth and set at least three electronic voting machines on fire in Bagalwadi village of Madha Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra. Before coming out, he was allegedly shouting slogans like ‘Jai Maratha’, ‘Ek Maratha, Lakh Maratha’ etc., but he was caught by the police force deployed outside the polling station.
Solapur DM Kumar Ashirwad said on the incident, “At polling station number 86 in Sangola, a voter tried to set fire to the EVM machine. Three ballot units looked slightly black but were fine. The control unit and VVPAT were also fine. We replaced the EVM machines and conducted a mock poll on the new EVM machines. The control units of the original EVM machines remained intact and hence the votes recorded in it could be counted. There was no impact, so there is no need for re-polling. Police will take action against the person who has done this.
According to officials, around 1 pm the man entered the polling booth with a bottle of petrol, poured it on at least three EVMs there and set them on fire, shocking other voters and the election officials on duty there. Some election officials immediately brought a can of water and extinguished the burning equipment, but at least three EVMs were rendered useless, while videos of the incident went viral on social media.
The election process was stopped for a while, an official said. After some time, booth officials managed to replace the burnt EVMs with other machines and voting resumed. The police arrested the youth and he has been taken for further investigation. The motive behind his action could not be known. Meanwhile, police security outside the Bagalwadi polling station was further tightened and voting continued without any problem.
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