Chennai/Madurai, Apr 18 : Technical glitches in Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs) in some of the polling booths in Tamil Nadu delayed
the voting process, as polling for 38 Lok Sabha seats and 18 Assembly
seats began on Thursday morning.
Polling with began at 0700 hrs has been progressing peacefully, police
said.
People were forced to stand in queue for additional time in several
booths as minor glitches were reported in EVMs leading to a delay
in polling process.
Reports of glitches in EVMs were received from Tiruchirapalli, Dindigul,
Kanyakumari, Nagapattina, Mayiladuthurai, Theni and Tirunelveli Lok Sabha
constituencies, besides in some booths in Chennai and other districts.
Reports said malfunctioning of EVMs were reported in Kamanaickenpalayam
and Kaduvetti in Tiruchirapalli, Padmanabhapuram in Kanyakumari,
Ottanchathram in Dindigul and Avaraikulam in Tirunelveli.
PMK candidate for Dindigul Lok Sabha, K.Jothimuthu returned from a booth
at KR Government Higher Secondary School in Ottanchathiram, while DMK
party’s Tirunelveli Lok Sabha candidate S.Gnanathiraviyam also returned
without casting his vote owing to glitches in EVMs in the polling booth
at Avaraikulam.
Election officials said engineers were sorting out the technical problem
and voting will commence very soon.
Meanwhile, polling has been stopped in seven booths in Madurai North
Assembly segment after the voters complained that stickers were found
on the EVMs with suspicious signature mentioning the letters AIADMK.
Election officials rushed to the booths and are verifying the complaints.
