As Karnataka went to polls on Saturday morning, several reports of faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and other obstacles are coming in from throughout the state, stalling the process and causing inconvenience to voters.
A faulty Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine at booth number 108 in Hubbali was replaced and voting was delayed. There were reports from the Lamington School booth in Hubbali that faulty EVM has resulted in delays in voting.
In Hassan, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H D Deve Gowda had not been able to cast his vote initially due to faulty EVM.
Polling has been stopped in Chincholi taluk in Kalaburagi district after EVM malfunction was reported, and the officials concerned are looking into it.
Faulty EVM has delayed polling by two hours at Janvarkatte in Kundapur constituency as well in Udupi District. As more than 150 voters were standing in a queue, they were given token for exercising their franchise, Deccan Herald reported.
A malfunctioning VVPAT was replaced in Ambedkar College after one hour and voting has now resumed.
In Bengaluru too, citizens are faced with a number of obstacles as they make their way to the booths. “I’m waiting here at the Government Higher Secondary School in room 3. I was here at 7am sharp to cast my vote and what do you know?! The voting machine is not working. We have more than 30 enthusiastic voters waiting patiently and we are losing so much time!” a woman wrote on the Whitefield Rising group on Facebook.
EVM malfunction has also been reported in a booth in Bengaluru’s Shivajinagara constituency as well as the polling booth in RV Teachers college in Chickpet.
Furthermore, heavy rains last night in Chamarajapete in Bengaluru caused a power outage rendering the booth non-functional at the moment. The Election Commission replaced the machine soon and voting resumed shortly.
Rainfall is also making it difficult for voters from Belgaum district’s Chikkod-Sadalaga Assembly seat to make their way to the polling booth. Citizens across the state are also facing problems in commuting as many KSRTC and BMTC buses are on election duty.