Maharashtra Assembly polls: Zonal officer attacked in Nagpur over spare EVM found in car

NAGPUR: A zonal officer deployed in a polling centre in Maharashtra’s Nagpur was chased and manhandled by a group of persons over an altercation regarding a spare Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) found in his car, police said on Thursday.

According to Nagpur police, the incident happened on Wednesday evening after the polling time ended for the Maharashtra assembly elections and the polling officer went out for some related work.

“When voting was over, a zonal officer went out of polling centre for some work. He had a spare EVM in his car, which the group of persons mistook for the EVM used in polling. The group chased the officer for questioning and even pelted stones at him and his car. The officer was manhandled and the car in which the spare EVM was kept was also vandalised by the mob”, Nagpur Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Nisar Tamboli said.

#WATCH | Maharashtra | Joint CP, Nagpur, Nisar Tamboli says, “When voting was over, a zonal officer went out of polling centre, for some work. He had a spare EVM in his car. Some people misunderstood that it was the EVM, the one that was used in polling, so they started following… https://t.co/1gObhAQim2 pic.twitter.com/nL15aijRWe

— ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2024

Tamboli said that a complaint has been lodged against the attackers and assured to take action against the stone pelters. “No original EVM was damaged. Action will be taken against those who pelted stones, we have complaints against those who were involved,” the Joint CP said.

Voting for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly commenced at 7 am on Wednesday and was otherwise peaceful and orderly. A turnout of 62.05 per cent was recorded in the voting. Votes will counted on November 23. (ANI)