Chaos ensued at Masabinal village, which falls under the Basavana Bagewadi Assembly constituency of Karnataka’s Vijayapura district, when the residents damaged voting machines following a misunderstanding on Wednesday, May 10. The Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were kept in reserve for use in case of machine failure and were being transported back to Vijayapura from the Bisanala village when the incident occurred. According to reports, the village residents questioned the election staff members about the machines, but when they did not receive a satisfactory answer they broke the voting machines believing that the polling process had been suspended midway.
Visuals show voters banging the EVMs against the ground in protest. The altercation also caused damage to the election officer’s car, which can be seen lying toppled over in visuals from the spot, and resulted in several electoral staff members being beaten up. Two control units, two ballot units, and three VVPATs were damaged, and the sector officer was manhandled. The Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Vijayapura rushed to the spot following the incident, and 23 people were arrested. Though a chaotic atmosphere prevailed in the village following the incident, the voting process continued uninterrupted.
The Karnataka Assembly comprises 224 seats, with a party or coalition needing to secure at least 112 seats to form the government. In the 2018 elections, the BJP won 104 seats, the Congress won 78 seats, and the JD(S) won 37 seats. However, after the bye-elections in 2019, the BJP managed to secure legislators from Congress and JD(S), bringing their numbers in the Assembly to 120, while the Congress was reduced to 69 and JD(S) to 32.
In the current election, Congress has been highlighting the failures of the incumbent BJP, while the BJP is countering by invoking the popularity of the Prime Minister and the strength of a "double engine" government. Meanwhile, the JD(S) is urging voters to reject both national parties.
Chaos erupts in Karnataka's Vijayapura as voters destroy reserve voting machines#KarnatakaAssemblyElection2023 #TNMpollwatch @thenewsminute pic.twitter.com/9yCScuoQRQ
— Shivani Kava (@kavashivani) May 10, 2023