EVM in Bengaluru only registering votes for Lotus: Congress leader

Bengaluru, May 12 (IANS) An EVM at a polling booth here was registering votes only for the BJP’s ‘Lotus’ symbol irrespective of which button was pressed, Congress leader Brijesh Kalappa claimed on Saturday.

"There are five booths opposite my parents’ apartment at RMV II stage (in the northern suburb). In the second booth, any button pressed registers a vote only to ‘kamal ke phool’ (lotus). Angry voters are returning without casting their vote," tweeted Congress spokesman Kalappa as Karnataka voted to elect a new assembly.

The Congress leader alleged that voting from the booth was stopped by the Election Commission officials for a while and later resumed.

The EC, however, has so far not confirmed the alleged malfunction of the particular EVM.

Since polling began at 7 a.m. across 222 of the total 224 constituencies, there have been reports of EVMs malfunctioning in few booths; power crisis in a polling station in Rajajinagar seat; voter’s names missing at few booths and burka-clas women clad in burqa made to reveal their faces at a Belagavi polling booth — leading to few hiccups.