Assam: SUV Carrying EVM Sinks In Assam's Lakhimpur, Polling Officers And Driver Safe

An SUV transporting an EVM partially submerged into a river when the water level rose abruptly in Assam's Lakhimpur constituency.

Polling officials and security personnel with EVMs and other election materials disembark from a ferry on their way to a polling station ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Golaghat, Assam, Thursday, April 18, 2024.

Source : PTI

An SUV transporting an electronic voting machine (EVM) encountered an unexpected mishap as it partially submerged into a river when the water level rose abruptly, washing away the mechanised boat ferrying the vehicle on Friday in Assam's Lakhimpur constituency, as per officials.

Fortunately, both the driver and the polling officer aboard the vehicle managed to escape before water inundated the SUV, stated an official, PTI reported.

The vehicle was en route to the Amarpur area in Sadiya to substitute an EVM following a technical malfunction detected during the morning polling session, the official underscored. A quick response team positioned at Sadiya sent the SUV with EVM along with the driver and an official.

“As the vehicle was being carried by a mechanised boat across the Deopani river, its water level and current suddenly increased. The boat sank under the force of the water, and the vehicle also partially sank,” the official said.

“A State Disaster Response Force team was called in to pull the vehicle out of the water. The EVM, meant for replacement, was damaged in the accident,” he also said. 

Polling Ends For 5 Lok Sabha Seats In Assam

Polling for five Lok Sabha seats in Assam which is to decide the fate of 35 candidates ended today at around 5 pm. The constituencies where the polling was done include Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kaziranga, Sonitpur, and Lakhimpur.

Sixty companies of security forces have been deployed in the five constituencies to ensure free and fair elections in the state.

In Assam, over 86.47 lakh voters, comprising 43.64 lakh women who outnumber 42.82 lakh men and 123 third gender, exercised their franchise across 10,001 polling booths, news agency PTI reported.

In the first phase, BJP is contesting in all five seats, the Congress in four, the Aam Aadmi Party in two, and the Trinamool Congress, the Assam Jatiya Parishad, and CPI in one each.