On the eve of counting day for Assembly Elections 2021, an unused, ‘mystery’ electronic voting machine (EVM) was discovered at a counting center in Assam’s Hailakandi district. A media report claims that although the discovery led to a tense situation initially, upon an investigation conducted by election officials it was found that the EVM was a reserved unit, which was mistakenly placed inside a trunk, at the counting centre.
The inquiry into the mystery EVM was conducted by the district election officer, Megh Nidhi Dahal along with returning officers, who hurried back to the counting center along with some candidates when they heard about the discovery of the EVM. In a statement released to the media, it was said, “On being investigated it was found that the unused EVM inside a trunk that found its way inadvertently to the counting venue was a reserved one, and there were no votes polled in.” The statement also clarified that the EVM was opened in the presence of contesting candidates, and no one disputed the notion that the EVM was a reserved one. Therefore, post-inspection, the EVM has been taken to the EVM warehouse and kept in safe custody.
Constituency-wise, the BJP has taken a comfortable lead over the Congress as the saffron party is leading in over 46 assemblies against Congress’ 24 out of a total of 126 seats in Assam. The initial trends of Assam Assembly Election results suggest that the state Finance and Health Minister, BJP’s Himanta Biswa Sarma is leading from Jalukbari constituency, while anti-CAA activist Akhil Gogoi is ahead in Sibsagar seat.
The BJP now needs five more seats to secure the majority mark, which is 64. The Election Commission began counting votes for the 126 assemblies in Assam elections amid a three-tier security arrangement and strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols. The vote-counting is underway across 331 halls.
The voting for the Assam Assembly elections, which was held in three phases — March 27, April 1, and April 6, was concluded on April 6 with an impressive turnout of 82.04%.
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