Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh
A case involving Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has come to light in Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh. Twenty-four EVMs have been found missing from a warehouse located behind the old tehsil office. The missing machines include eight ballot units and 16 control units. Based on a complaint, police have registered a case against unidentified persons and launched an investigation.
According to the information available, 620 control units and 1,670 ballot units had been stored at the warehouse behind the old tehsil office for the 2014 Panchayat elections. The machines remained secured at the premises for a long period.
On March 16, damage was found on the rear wall of the warehouse. However, at that time, the security of the EVMs and the records of the machines available at the facility were not verified. Later, on September 21, the EVMs were moved from the old tehsil premises to Room No. 6 on the ground floor of the tehsil office operating from the Polytechnic College.
A physical verification of the EVMs was subsequently conducted between September 24 and 28. During the verification, a discrepancy was found between the number of machines recorded in official records and the number physically available at the site. The verification revealed that eight ballot units and 16 control units were missing.
Following the discrepancy, a complaint was filed at Kotwali Police Station by Phool Singh, an assistant teacher at Primary School Sitapur, Anuppur Tehsildar Ved Prakash Singh, and assistant teacher Sanjay Nigam. The complaint also includes the serial numbers of the missing machines.
Police have registered a case against an unidentified person and launched an investigation. Kotwali Station House Officer Umesh Upadhyay said that a complaint regarding the missing EVMs had been received and that the matter was being investigated.
