The Election Commission (EC) on February 7 ordered that repolling will be conducted in 48 polling stations of five assembly constituencies in Punjab. Election department officials said, the repoll will be held on February 9 between 8 am to 5 pm.
In Punjab, over 66 per cent electorate had exercised their franchise on February 4.
The repoll has been ordered due to malfunctionings in the Voter-Verified Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) EVMs on February 4. The assembly constituencies where repoll has been ordered include Majitha (12), Sangrur(6), Muktsar(9), Moga(1) and Sardulgarh(4).
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V K Singh said, “The repolling will take place at 48 polling stations because of the malfunctioning in VVPAT on polling day. The repolling will take place on February 9.”
EC had used VVPAT for the first time in Punjab at 6,668 polling stations in 33 assembly segments and two segments in Amritsar Lok Sabha seats.
The EC has also ordered a repoll in some polling stations of the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat for which by-election was held on February 4 along with voting for 117 assembly seats.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier slammed Election Commission of India, calling it ‘spineless’ and alleged that the body has “completely surrendered” before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Election Commission has completely surrendered before Modiji, just like the CBI and the RBI,” Kejriwal tweeted.
The fate of 1,145 candidates, including 81 women and one transgender, has been sealed in the EVMs following voting held on February 4.
Counting of the votes polled will take place on March 11.
