The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) recommended re-polling at six booths in Sundargarh, Nayagarh and Bargarh districts following technical glitches during voting in the second phase of elections in the State on Thursday.
“Two polling booths in Sundargarh, two in Nayagarh and another two in Bargarh will be re-polled,” said CEO Surendra Kumar.
The glitches were reported at booth no 129 in Bonai and 213 in Sundargarh. Similar incident took place at booth no 210 and 222 in Daspalla of Nayagarh and booth no 68 and 235 in Bargarh. The voters were disappointed and had to return without casting their votes after long hours of wait for polling to elect their representatives.
The CEO clarified that it was not technical glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), rather a ‘human error’ in VVPATs for which the polling was suspended at these four booths. “The EVMs and VVPATs have been cross paired in these four polling stations. This is the human error as the dereliction of duties by the concerned polling officers for which actions are to be initiated against them,” Kumar said.
