Kerala - Kochi   

EVM develops snag; repoll sought

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, MAY 10. The electronic voting machine at a polling booth in the Kunnathunadu Assembly segment of the Muvattupuzha Lok Sabha constituency developed a snag, which was detected by a Congress leader who had come to exercise his franchise.

It was learnt that while he pressed the button against the name of the UDF candidate, Jose K. Mani, the red light for the LDF candidate P.M. Ismail, lit up.

The voting machine of booth number 106 at the Ambalamedu Vocational Higher Secondary School was sealed after 411 votes had been polled. The incident led to the UDF and NDA, the other two main political alliances, seeking a repoll in the particular booth. Both the UDF and the NDA have demanded a repoll stating that all the votes polled earlier could have gone to the the LDF candidate.

Mix-up in booths

In what seems to be a clerical error, two booths in Poothota got mixed up. Voters in booth number 163 at the Little Flower School in South Paravur in Poothota, had to go to booth number 164 at the Junior Basic School, Puthenkavu in Poothota and vice-versa to cast their votes. The error was detected by the booth agents of political parties on Sunday and they had intimated the election officials of it. According to CPI(M) workers, though the Additional District Magistrate had assured them that the mistake would be rectified, nothing happened on the polling day.

While the voters were irked about the error and the inconvenience, political parties tried to assuage their feelings by ferrying voters in vehicles to the polling booths. There were 1,374 voters in booth number 163 and 1,212 voters in booth number 164.

A unique protest

Fr. Sebastian Thottappilly, Chaplain of the Little Flower Hospital at Angamaly, is one among hundreds of people who abstained from voting today. But, the priest chose the polling day to register his protest in a unique way against the current political system in the country. Fr. Sebastian, who turned up at the booth at the St.Joseph's High School, Angamaly, got his finger inked before informing the presiding officer that he would not like to cast his vote. He also agreed to furnish the details for not casting his vote.

The priest left the booth without casting his vote as a mark of protest against the criteria followed by political parties in selecting their candidates.

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• Moderate polling in Ernakulam
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• EVM develops snag; repoll sought
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