The police on Tuesday morning arrested a zonal officer from Barpeta Road in Assam’s Barpeta district and seized two electronic voting machines (EVMs) means to be used in the ongoing Assam Assembly elections from this possession.
Locals after noticing zonal officer Manjum Deka travelling with the EVMs without any security caught him and questioned him.
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The zonal official said that he was carrying the two EVMs to replace malfunctioning EVMs at a polling station.
The registration number of the vehicle he was travelling in is AS15H2183.
However, the police are meanwhile, investigating as to why an official needed to carry EVMs to a polling station without security.
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Barpeta district went to polls during the third phase of the Assam Assembly elections on Tuesday.
Also read: Assam Congress moves Election Commission over EVM ‘theft’ and ‘entry’ into strong room
Polling was held in a total of 40 constituencies during the third phase.
The polling percentage was 68.31 per cent till 3 pm.
On the other hand, the police also detained two BJP party workers for trying to influence voters to vote in the favour of the saffron party at the Kamrup Academy polling station near Guwahati Club area of the city.
These workers were reportedly distributing slips of paper containing the name of the BJP candidate among voters, which was a blatant violation of the model code of conduct.
They even tried to influence first-time voters who had arrived to cast their vote in the Assam Assembly elections.