EVM Found In BJP Candidate's Car, Repolls Ordered: A Timeline Of Poll Frenzy In Bengal, Assam

The second phase of polling in West Bengal and Assam concluded on Thursday with Bengal recording a voter turnout of 80.43 per cent, while 74.69 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Assam, according to the Election Commission.

But, it is not the turnout that made the news, the EVMs topped the headlines on most days throughout the election frenzy.

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Here's a timeline of events:

March 19, 2021: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued an impromptu three-point checklist for her party workers to follow to prevent rigging of EVMs, a TMC parliamentary delegation submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India with a demand to tally VVPAT machines with EVMs.

March 19, 2021: A BJP team too submitted a memorandum to the poll body in Delhi urging action against Banerjee for allegedly spreading propaganda against the BJP and the ECI.

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March 26, 2021: Wrapping up the last leg of election campaigning in West Midnapore¡¯s Dantan ahead of phase 1 polls on Saturday, Banerjee urged Trinamool Congress workers to be vigilant against EVM tampering. She urged party workers to keep a vigil on EVMs for a month after polls, saying ¡°BJP can do anything¡±.

1 April 2021: Banerjee dialled Governor Jagdeep Dhankar from Nandigram amid a face-off with BJP workers at a polling booth. "Anything might happen at any moment¡­ There is total breakdown of law and order with the people outside being in the area," she told the Governor.

1 April 2021: Trinamool Congress's Derek O'Brien has written to the Election Commission alleging booth capture by BJP workers in Nandigram. "Huge mob of BJP workers have entered booth no.s 6, 7, 49, 27, 162, 21, 26, 13, 262, 256, 163, 20. BJP workers attempting to take control of EVM & rigging the booth," he wrote.

1 April 2021: Nandigram has 355 polling booths. The Election Commission has declared all of them as sensitive and deployed 22 companies of security forces. Around 651 companies of central forces have been deployed at the other 10,619 booths where elections are on.

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1 April 2021: Upset over what she clearly saw as betrayal, Mamata Banerjee threw her hat into the ring at Nandigram, leaving her existing seat in Kolkata's Bhowanipur.

2 April 2021: Reports emerged late last night of an EVM being transported in a private vehicle belonging to a BJP candidate.

2 April 2021: EC ordered a repoll for a polling station in the Ratabari Assembly seat of Assam.

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2 April 2021: Acknowledging that there was a ¡°violation of transport protocol,¡± the Commission, in a press statement released Friday morning, said that it has issued a show-cause notice to the Presiding Officer and also suspended him along with three other officers for the lapse.

The opposition has cited the incident to allege "EVM capturing" by the ruling BJP. The Congress's Gaurav Gogoi, for instance, has said "this is the only way the BJP can win Assam".

This is the only way the BJP can win Assam: by looting EVMs. EVM capturing, like there used to be booth capturing. All under the nose of the Election Commission. Sad day for democracy. #EVM_theft_Assam #AssamAssemblyElection2021 https://t.co/5dmlu67Uui

¡ª Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) April 1, 2021

Dubbing the BJP a serial offender in such cases, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, in a series of tweets, sought "a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs" by all national parties. In another tweet in Hindi, she referred to the Election Commission sarcastically as "masoom" or innocent.

Every time there is an election videos of private vehicles caught transporting EVM¡¯s show up. Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common:

1. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates. ....

1/3 https://t.co/s8W9Oc0UcV

¡ª Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 2, 2021

Assam went through the second phase of polling yesterday, recording over 77 per cent turnout and a few instances of violence. One of the incidents was in Karimganj, with a video of the disturbance being widely shared on social media.

The third phase of polling will take place on April 6 in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be campaigning in Madurai and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu today for the BJP and its alliance partner AIADMK.