Bengal BJP leader claims ink over lotus symbol on EVM, CRPF says issue fixed
The BJP leader flagged an issue of ink being smeared over the party's Lotus symbol on an EVM at a polling booth in West Bengal's Raghunathpur. The CRPF promptly intervened, cleaned the ink and confirmed that voting continued peacefully thereafter.
An incident involving ink being smeared over the BJP’s Lotus symbol on an EVM at a polling booth in West Bengal’s Raghunathpur during the first phase of voting was promptly addressed by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Thursday after BJP’s Saumitra Khan flagged the issue on X.
In a post, Saumitra Khan, BJP candidate from Bishnupur, who has been raising concerns about polling stations through a series of posts, said, “At Booth 171, Assembly 246-Raghunathpur, ink has been smeared over the Lotus symbol on the EVM, hiding it from voters.”
He urged authorities to immediately clean or replace the machine to ensure fair polling.
Responding to the issue, the CRPF, with the screenshot of the BJP leader’s post, informed that the ink had been cleaned and confirmed that voting was continuing peacefully at the booth.
“Now ink has been cleaned and voting is going on peacefully,” CRPF said in the post.
Meanwhile, sporadic incidents of violence and attacks on candidates marred polling in parts of West Bengal, prompting the Election Commission to seek reports from affected areas.
Despite the disturbances, voting in the state remained brisk on Thursday, with over 41% of the 3.60 crore voters casting their ballots by 11 am in the first phase of the Assembly elections, even as isolated scuffles were reported from several locations.
Polling across 16 districts is underway, deciding the fate of 1,478 candidates, including 167 women, in 152 constituencies of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
An incident involving ink being smeared over the BJP’s Lotus symbol on an EVM at a polling booth in West Bengal’s Raghunathpur during the first phase of voting was promptly addressed by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Thursday after BJP’s Saumitra Khan flagged the issue on X.
In a post, Saumitra Khan, BJP candidate from Bishnupur, who has been raising concerns about polling stations through a series of posts, said, “At Booth 171, Assembly 246-Raghunathpur, ink has been smeared over the Lotus symbol on the EVM, hiding it from voters.”
He urged authorities to immediately clean or replace the machine to ensure fair polling.
Responding to the issue, the CRPF, with the screenshot of the BJP leader’s post, informed that the ink had been cleaned and confirmed that voting was continuing peacefully at the booth.
“Now ink has been cleaned and voting is going on peacefully,” CRPF said in the post.
Meanwhile, sporadic incidents of violence and attacks on candidates marred polling in parts of West Bengal, prompting the Election Commission to seek reports from affected areas.
Despite the disturbances, voting in the state remained brisk on Thursday, with over 41% of the 3.60 crore voters casting their ballots by 11 am in the first phase of the Assembly elections, even as isolated scuffles were reported from several locations.
Polling across 16 districts is underway, deciding the fate of 1,478 candidates, including 167 women, in 152 constituencies of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
