Bengaluru: After the dramatic turns in Karnataka political scenes, BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa, who stepped down from the post of the Chief Minister merely after two days of taking oath has written to the Election Commission pointing out “grave irregularities” after eight boxes used for carrying Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were found at a temporary shed in a village in Karnataka’s Vijayapura.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat, Yeddyurappa said that the incident must be taken seriously as it points at the grave irregularities in the conduct of assembly polls in the state.
“This incident has exposed the hollowness of the claim of the Election Commission that Assembly elections in Karnataka were held in a free and fair manner,” Yeddyurappa said adding that the BJP workers had brought many such incidents to the notice of the election officers, it had not yielded any results. Meanwhile, state chief electoral officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar has said the boxes used for carrying VVPAT machines, found in Managuli village on Sunday, do not belong to the district or to Election Commission.
“The boxes are without machine and paper and without unique electronic tracking number. The Election Commission will initiate strict action against those who are trying to create confusion,” Kumar said, adding, no VVPAT machines were found.
“These boxes do not belong to Vijayapura district and 2744 VVPATs allotted to the district are safely kept in the strong room,” Kumar said.
An FIR has been registered at Managuli police station and investigation into the matter is on, the CEO said.
