Maximum 'burnt memory/microcontroller of EVMs' from Ahmednagar LS seat, plea for recheck to ECI

Mumbai: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has received applications from six states for checking/verification of "burnt memory/microcontroller of EVMs" used in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, an official statement said on Thursday.

From the six states, the complaints originated from 92 polling stations spread in eight LS seats, including one from Maharashtra's Ahmednagar constituency.

The ECI said that in the Ahmednagar LS seat, there were a total of 40 such instances of burnt memory/microcontroller of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in all six Assembly segments.

They include - Shrigonda, Parner (10 each), Karjat-Jamkhed, Ahmednagar City, Rahuri and Shevgaon (5 each), totaling to 40.

This is the highest among all the eight LS constituencies spread in six states, and Bharatiya Janata Party sitting MP Sujay Vikhe-Patil - who was trounced by Nationalist Congress Party (SP)'s winner Nilesh D. Lanke - has now applied for checking/verification of the concerned (40) EVMs in his constituency.

While Lanke secured 624,797 votes and romped home, Vikhe-Patil polled 595,868 votes and lost, with a margin of 28,929 votes - shocking BJP circles.

The complaints were received as per the Standard Operating Procedures of the ECI announced on June 1, said the statement.

Apart from Maharashtra, similar pleas have been received from Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh - 02 EVMs affected), Kanker (Chhattisgarh - 04 EVMs), Faridabad and Karnal (Haryana - 06 EVMs), Vellore and Virudhnagar (Tamil Nadu - 20 EVMs), and Zahirabad (Telangana - 20 EVMs).