CHENNAI: The DMK has sought the Election Commission of India to clarify the "suspicious movement" of EVMs and VVPATs to Theni and Erode on May 7.
Taking strong exception to the "shifting" of the EVMs and VVPATs, DMK organisation secretary and party MP R.S. Bharathi, who submitted a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and CEO, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, wanted to know the purpose for shifting them.
He claimed about 50 numbers of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were suddenly shifted to the office of tahsildar at Theni from Coimbatore, without any notice or intimating the candidates who contested in the Theni Parliamentary Constituency; Periakulam and Antipatti Assembly Constituencies which faced by-elections, on April 18.
"On coming to know about the said suspicious movement of EVMs during election period that too after the poll was over, our party's representatives went to the spot and objected. Even the district collector being the District Electoral Officer or the officials available in the tahsildar' office were not in a position to give a clear picture as to the movement of EVMs, which further raises mistrust on the Election Commission's activity during the late hours on May 7," he said in the letter, a copy of which was made available to the media here.
As per ECI guidelines the shifting of unused EVMs (under Categories 'C' and 'D', as defined by ECI) is restrained without any intimation to the contesting candidates or to their respective general agents. "However, in violation of those mandatory guidelines, the EVMs were shifted, which is totally wrong," Bharathi argued and urged the ECI not to shift the EVMs and VVPATs.
