Daijiworld Media Network - Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur, May 8: Soon after the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections was completed in Bihar on May 6, two EVMs and two VVPATs were recovered from a hotel in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.

District Magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Alok Ranjan Ghosh has issued a show-cause notice to sector magistrate Awadhesh Kumar for unloading the EVMs and VVPATs in a hotel which is a major security breach.

The issue came to light soon after the polls, when sub-divisional officer (SDO) Kundan Kumar received a tip-off that an election official shifted EVMs and VVPAT into a hotel room. Kundan then raided Hotel Anand in Choti Kalyani area and seized the EVMs and VVPAT.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigations revealed that the poll machinery was just a reserve. The sector officer is given reserved machinery to replace just in case an EVM or VVPAT malfunctions in a polling booth.

Awadhesh Kumar had allegedly shifted the reserve machines to the hotel room as his driver expressed his desire to vote. As the polling booth of the driver was in the outskirts of Muzaffarpur, the sector officer thought it would be better if the machinery is shifted to a hotel room.

Meanwhile, when people came to know, there was a huge hullabaloo outside the hotel. The SDO then seized the EVMs.

Nevertheless, the Muzaffarpur district magistrate has ordered a probe as unloading EVMs in a hotel is a violation of rules. Action will be taken against the officer after the inquiry, Ghosh told media.