Malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units, which were introduced for the first time across the State, disrupted polling briefly in many constituencies.
While polling began late in some booths, it had to be halted at others till the machines were replaced or rectified.
At Gandhi Vidyalaya Kannada and Tamil Primary School at Lottegollahalli in Hebbal constituency, as soon as the voting commenced, the electorate started complaining about the mismatch between the votes they cast and the display in VVPAT unit.
“While I cast my vote for a party, VVPAT recorded the vote to an Independent candidate. Other voters had similar complaints,” said Krishna Chaitanya, the first voter to raise the issue. By evening, the Election Commission ordered repolling on Monday. Similarly, polling was disrupted in St. Xavier’s Boys High School in Shivajinagar constituency in Bengaluru after the VVPAT machine malfunctioned, displaying mismatch error and not accepting the ballot, an official said.
Units replaced
According to Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar at least 380 balloting units, 348 control units and 1,200 VVPAT units that had mechanical issues had to be replaced.
This works out to 0.55% of the total balloting units, 0.56% of the total control units and 1.87% of the total VVPAT units deployed.
Polling was disrupted at Paduvalahippe in Holenarsipur constituency in Hassan district where the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, his son and former Minister H.D. Revanna besides other family members are voters. While 29 electors cast their votes when machines malfunctioned, by the time the Janata Dal supremo came to vote, they had been replaced. Disruption of polling process or delayed start were reported from Udupi, Shivamogga, Kampli, Padmanabhanagar, Puttur, Mandya, Belagavi, Khanapur, Yadgir, Hubballi and Belur constituencies, among others.
At Mylanahalli in Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural district, the EVMs were not working, forcing voters, including veteran Kannada film actor Leelavathi, to wait for about an hour.
