Jaipur: Congress Wednesday accused the State Election Commission (SEC) of failing to act on complaints related to slow electronic voting machines (EVMs) and alleged irregularities during the first phase of polling.The party said it had received 154 complaints across the state till 6pm, including allegations of slow EVM functioning, bogus voting, voters being denied their franchise, discrepancies in polling records and issues related to delimitation.Congress alleged that voters at several booths had to wait 30 minutes to an hour because of EVM-related problems. The party said complaints had been received from Alwar, Bikaner, Dholpur, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Chittorgarh and Karauli, among other districts.The party alleged that polling parties had not provided Form 17 at certain booths in Alwar, including wards 155, 156, 157 and 158. Form 17 contains details including the start and end time of polling and the number of votes polled.“Our polling agents have been refused Form 17, which contains details like voting start and end time and the number of votes polled. It clearly means there is scope for fake voting,” said Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully.“It is sad that neither the collectors of these districts nor the Election Commission is responding to our calls. At least three to four polling booths have complaints of EVM malfunction for two to four hours, along with allegations of fake voting. There are at least 10 such complaints where Congress-supported voters were denied their right to vote on flimsy grounds,” said state Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi.Congress questioned the SEC’s alleged failure to respond to the complaints and sought greater transparency in the polling process.
