The Assam Congress on Monday lodged a complaint with the Election Commissioner and chief electoral officer of Assam against “fishy storage” of unused EVMs in Kamrup districts on Sunday night.
The PCC mailed its complaint at 12.56am on Monday after receiving “telephonic information” around 10.35pm on Sunday that small trucks laden with unused EVMs were being brought to a private location, Himatsingka Workshop, opposite the office of the Kamrup deputy commissioner and a place “adjacent” to a strongroom.
On behalf of the PCC, the complaint was lodged by its general secretary Diganta Choudhury.
PCC president Ripun Bora is likely to lodge another complaint before the Election Commissioner on Tuesday. Two senior spokespersons, Kishor Bhattacharya and Durga Das Boro, called a press conference on Monday demanding a probe into the incident.
“The usual practice of dispatching faulty/unused EVMs back from duty is only after the same is verified by representatives of all political parties, as done when the same is received and made ready for use before polls,” said the complaint letter.
It added that none of their contesting candidates were informed about the transfer of the EVMs. Bhattacharya also said the Congress was not informed about the transfer.
Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi questioned the “emergency of transferring the EVMs by night. They should have been taken during daytime and after informing everyone. What was the emergency to transfer them at night?”
Tezpur Congress candidate M.G.V.K. Bhanu said the EVMs should not have been transferred at night and stored in a private godown. “There should be an inquiry into the incident to clarify whether they are unused or not,” he said.
The chief electoral officer, Assam, Mukesh Chandra Sahu, said those were unused EVMs that were brought from districts and were kept at a warehouse at Amingaon. He said the EVMs would be sent to other states. Sahu said the warehouse was hired by the Election Commission for storage of EVMs.
The PCC said it had complained several times to the Election Commission to transfer the deputy commissioner of Kamrup, Kamal Kumar Baishya, as he was a resident of the same district.
The PCC alleged that closeness of Baishya with state cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is the sole reason of his not being transferred out of his home district.