EC assures replacement of EVMs amid concerns over credibility

After former chief minister Omar Abdullah claimed in a tweet that the button corresponding to the Congress symbol was not working in many EVMs in Poonch on Thursday, District Election Officer (DEO) Rahul Yadav said that the faulty EVMs have been replaced. "There was an issue with Congress button in Shahpur, our staff has replaced the machine. At polling station number 8, BJP button was not working, we changed that also. There was a problem with a different button at another polling station," Yadav told ANI.

"EVM is a machine. There may be problems with some. That is why we have kept 20 per cent of machines in reserve. Machines are selected randomly. There is nothing like targeting a single party. Whenever such problems arise, we fix it quickly as per the guidelines of the Election Commission," he added.

Earlier, Abdullah had tweeted a video in which claims were made that the button corresponding to the Congress symbol was not working in polling stations in Poonch. In the ongoing first phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state, two Parliamentary constituencies - Baramulla and Jammu - out of six are witnessing polling on Thursday.