Three arrested in the discovery of VVPATs

Vijayapura: Police have arrested three persons involved in the discovery of eight VVPAT cases found in a shed in Managuli village. Police arrested Harindar and Rajeshwar, from Bihar, and Chimanbhai Patel from Gujarat on Tuesday. But, it is not clear how they were involved in the case. Officials of the Election Commission had been sent to the region to look into the matter and they arrived in Vijayapura on Tuesday. However, they refused to share any details about the case and said that they would submit the details directly to the Election Commission.

Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Shettenavar clarified that the VVPAT cases do not belong to the district since all the EVMs and VVPATs received for the elections were with the district administration. Out of the 2830 EVMs received, 86 were malfunctioning and were returned to its manufacturer, BEL. The remaining 2744 machines were used during the elections and are now stored in the strongroom. He also confirmed that the VVPAT cases found were not distributed by the Election Commission. While only the cases were manufactured by a private company in Gujarat, the actual machine was manufactured only by BEL. Moreover, the cases do not have any bar code or identification code which is placed by the Election Commission on each box before despatching it.

Meanwhile, candidates who lost the election in Vijayapura and other districts have accused the Election Commission of taking a partial stand on the matter. They are demanding a CBI probe into the discovery of the VVPAT cases.