EVM MALFUNCTIONING AT 51 POLLING BOOTHS ACROSS TAMIL NADU

Millions across India queued up this morning to vote in the second phase of the gigantic Lok Sabha elections. So far, as many as 51 polling booths have reported EVM glitches across Tamil Nadu, including 33 booths in Kanyakumari constituency and four in Chennai. These technical snags have delayed polling at these booths.

Meanwhile, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief Kamal Haasan and his daughter Shruti Haasan were among hundreds of voters who had to wait at a polling station in Chennai on Thursday before they could cast their votes after a technical glitch in the EVMs delayed polling, Hindustan Times reported. 

Kamal Hassan, the actor-turned-politician, and others had queued up outside polling station 27 at Alwarpet Corporation School in Chennai to cast their votes. They had to wait for nearly half an hour before the polling started at the booth after the electronic voting machine was fixed.Voting in other polling booths in Tamil Nadu was also delayed owing to technical problems with EVMs.

According to Hindustan Times, Voting was stopped across Tamil Nadu, at 15 polling booths in Trichy, three polling booths in Erode and 33 polling booths at Nagercoil in Kanyakumari for EVM repairs. Sources said election officials were not trained to deal with these technical snags, and at several places, they did not have EVMs in stock to replace the malfunctioning ones either.

No votes have been cast at several polling stations in Chennai, including at Maduvankarai, Ashok Nagar, Virugampakkam and Eldams Road due to EVM malfunctioning. Sources say voters will have to wait for at least an hour before being able to vote. Polling agents stopped voting at seven booths in Tamil Nadu's Madurai constituency after finding a "suspicious" sticker pasted on EVMs that read "AIADMK".

In Puducherry, where 18 candidates are in the fray, voting will started 7:00 and will end at 6 pm. The main battle is between the ruling Congress, which has fielded former Speaker V Vaithilingam and the Opposition All India N.R. Congress' (AINRC) K Narayanasamy.