MP: Congress' Digvijaya Singh claims malfunctioning in EVM in Chachaura; state EC refutes it

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 7 : Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Congress' nominee from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday questioned the functioning of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in Chachura saying "Machine shows that 50 votes have been cast when just 11 votes were cast there. What is this?"
The State Election Commission, however, refuted the claim and said that no such incident occurred there.
"Congress workers are being pushed outside the 100-metre radius (from the polling booth). BJP leaders are within a 100-metre radius and are with banners and posters of Lord Ram. Congress leader Pankaj Yadav has been made seated at the Police station but BJP people with more criminal tendencies are roaming free. At polling booth no 24 in Chachaura, the machine shows that 50 votes have been cast when just 11 votes were cast there. What is this," the Congress leader asked.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Bhopal, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan said that they spoke to Guna collector in this regard and no such incident was reported there.
"A matter came to notice that at polling booth no 24 (Badod) in Chachaura which comes under the jurisdiction of Guna parliamentary seat, 11 votes were cast in the EVM and the machine was showing 50 votes had been cast. Following this, we spoke to the Guna collector in this regard and we came to know that no such incident occurred there. So far 32 per cent voting has been done till 11 am at the polling booth. There are a total of 905 voters at the polling station and 295 voters have cast their votes till 11 am at the Badod polling station," he added.
On the other hand, when the congress leader was asked about his claim that it is his last election, he said, "This is my last election because I am 77 years old. New people should be given a chance".
Digvijaya Singh, on Sunday, said that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections would be going to be the "last election of his life."
Digvijaya Singh said in a post on X in Hindi, "When I came to live in Raghogarh after my father's death with an engineering degree, the old town merchant of Raghogarh, Mr. Kasturchand Kathari, came to meet me. He said, 'Raja Saheb, the goal of every person's life is according to the alphabet of Hindi... 'K se Kamai' (Earn so much that you can feed your family by earning), 'G se gehna', (Make jewellery with the savings), 'Gh se Ghar' (If you have savings after building a house), then earn a name.'"
Adding that the 2024 general elections are going to be the last elections of his life, Singh reflected on his 50 years in politics, leaving it to the people to judge his success.
"He said, 'You are lucky, you have no shortage of food, jewellery, or house, now just 'earn a name.' I have tried to do just this in my 50 years of political life. I cannot judge how successful I was in that myself, only common people can do it. This is the last election of my life and you will decide how successful I was in it," he wrote.
The veteran Congress leader, who represented Rajgarh in Parliament back in the 1980s and early 90s, is returning to his home turf after three decades. The Rajgarh constituency is undergoing polling today in the third phase with eight other parliamentary seats in the state.
Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19 and the second phase was concluded on April 26.
The fourth, which is the last phase of LS polls in the state, will be held on May 13. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.