The Election Commission of India issued a prompt response after Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) allegations claiming that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had “BJP tags” attached to it in the Bankura district of West Bengal on Saturday amid sixth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections.
The TMC X handles shared two pictures of EVMs showcasing paper tags with BJP written on them, the post read, "Smt. @MamataOfficial has repeatedly flagged how @BJP4India was trying to rig votes by tampering with EVMs. And today, in Bankura's Raghunathpur, 5 EVMs were found with BJP tags on them."
"@ECISVEEP should immediately look into it and take corrective action," the post added.
The poll body in the state responded to the tweet saying, "While commissioning, common address tags were signed by the Candidates and their agents present. And since only the BJP Candidate's representative was present during that time in the commissioning hall, his signature was taken during commissioning of that EVM and VVPAT."
The CEO of West Bengal said that the signatures of all of the agents in the poll station numbers 56, 58, 60, 61,62 were obtained during the poll. They said that all of the ECI norms were duly followed “during commissioning was done entirely under CCTV coverage and was duly videographed" it added.
There are eight constituencies in West Bengal, including, Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur. With eight Lok Sabha seats at stake, the region is a focal point for identity politics and the endurance of political dynasties, promising a gripping showdown between the TMC and the BJP.
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Some of the key candidates from West Bengal include former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay from Tamluk, union minister Subhas Sarkar from Bankura, and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, a BJP legislator pitted against TMC MLA and actor June Malia in Medinipur.