Elections 2019: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday termed as "bogus" the doubts raised by political parties about misuse of EVMs. The chief minister said the use of EVMs has brought about a lot of transparency in the electoral process. "Political groups tend to make such bogus allegations when faced with defeat. EVMs have been in use since much before the Modi government took over. I have always been in favour of these since this technology has brought about a lot of transparency in the electoral process," he said.

Kumar, who also heads the JD(U), made the comment before leaving for Delhi to attend a meeting of the NDA on opposition parties raising concerns over reports of alleged tampering of EVMs.

Meanwhile, on a day it dismissed allegations that the voting machines used in the Lok Sabha election were being switched with fresh ones ahead of counting of votes on May 23, the Election Commission yesterday set up a 24-hour control room here to monitor complaints relating to EVMs.

"The complaints related to storage issues at strongrooms, security of strongrooms, permissions to candidates to post their agents at strongrooms, CCTV monitoring, movement of any EVMs, and any complaints during counting related to EVMs can be informed at control room, number is 011-23052123 (with 5 hunting lines)," it said in a statement.

Referring to the allegations and complaints, the commission earlier in the day said it would like to "emphatically and unambiguously" clarify that all such reports and allegations are "absolutely false and factually incorrect."

The visuals on TV and social media "do not pertain to any EVMs used during the polls", it said. In an earlier statement, the EC said, after the close of polls, all polled EVMs and VVPATs are brought under security cover to designated strongrooms, which are sealed with double locks in the presence of candidates and observers of the commission.

The entire process of storage and sealing of the strongroom is videoed. "Continuous CCTV camera coverage is done till completion of counting. Each strongroom is guarded with round-the-clock security by Central Armed Police Forces.