Betul: A bus transporting polling officials and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) caught fire in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, yesterday after the third phase of voting. The event occurred near Gola village, resulting in damage to EVMs from several polling stations. Fortunately, no injuries were reported among the polling staff or the bus driver.
According to Betul Collector Narendra Suryavanshi, the fire was ignited by a spark within the bus. The damaged EVMs belonged to four polling stations, specifically booth numbers 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, and 280. Among the six polling parties and an equal number of EVMs onboard, four were affected while two remained unharmed. The damage primarily affected either the control unit or the ballot unit of the EVMs.
The collector assured that he would forward a detailed report to the Election Commission for assessment. The Election Commission will subsequently determine whether re-polling is necessary in the affected booths.
This incident occurred during the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, wherein a substantial voter turnout was recorded. Notably, Betul witnessed a turnout of 72.65%, contributing to the provisional voter turnout of 66.05% across nine Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Among the candidates in the fray were prominent figures such as Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan of BJP and Digvijaya Singh of Congress. The polling encompassed nine seats, including Morena, Bhind (SC-reserved), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh, and Betul (ST-reserved).
