Betul, Madhya Pradesh: In Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, an unfortunate incident occurred involving a bus transporting polling officials and electronic voting machines (EVMs).
According to a senior official, a fire broke out on the bus, resulting in damage to several EVMs. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported among the polling staff or the bus driver, as confirmed by Betul Collector Narendra Suryavanshi in a statement to PTI.
The incident occurred near Gola village around 11 pm on Tuesday, the collector mentioned. It was determined that the fire originated from a spark within the bus, but thankfully no injuries were sustained.
The damaged EVMs belonged to four polling stations, specifically booth numbers 275 through 280. The fire was eventually extinguished by the fire tender, although the bus suffered significant damage.
At the time of the incident, the bus was carrying six polling parties along with an equal number of EVMs. Among these, four EVMs sustained damage while the remaining two were unaffected. Suryavanshi elaborated that either the control unit or the ballot unit of the affected EVMs was damaged in the fire.
Regarding the impact on the recorded votes in the EVMs, the collector stated that he would submit a report to the Election Commission for further action. The decision regarding re-polling on the affected booths would be made by the poll body.
Additionally, it was reported that a total of 72.65 percent voter turnout was recorded in the Betul Lok Sabha seat, according to a poll official.
