Assam Elections 2021: Reserved EVM with no votes polled found in Hailakandi centre

Just a day before the counting of polls are scheduled to begin, one reserved unused Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was found inside a truck at a counting centre in Assam's Hailakandi on Saturday evening. As per a statement, District Election Officer Megh Nidhi Dahal along with returning officers rushed to the spot, where the EVM was detected and made an inquiry into it. 

Assam: Empty EVM found

The contesting candidates also reached the spot. "Upon 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 therein," the statement said, adding that it was open before the contesting candidates, who were satisfied with the results.

Later, the reserved EVM was taken immediately to the EVM warehouse adjacent to the Deputy Commissioner's premises and stored there. "The reserved EVM was found in one of the trunks which have been brought to the counting centre for keeping the polled EVMs after counting tomorrow," Dahal was quoted in the statement.

"The contesting candidates were satisfied that the EVM was a reserved EVM and no votes were polled therein. The machine was later taken to the EVM warehouse and kept under safe custody," the District Election Officer added. 

Exit polls 

This comes after the Republic-CNX poll projected predicted a clear mandate for the BJP-led alliance in the state. The NDA has been projected to win 74-84 seats, the UPA is projected to win 40-50 seats and the Others have been projected to win two to three seats. The winning vote share for the NDA is projected to be 44.25%, while the Congress-led Mahajot is projected to win 39.65% of the votes.

Republic-CNX exit poll: 

Alliance-wise seat share projections:

NDA: 

• BJP: 60-66 seats
• AGP: 10-14 seats
• UPPL: 3-5 seats

UPA: 

• Congress: 26-28 seats
• AIUDF: 11-13 seats
• BPF: 5-7 seats
• Others: 1-3 seats

Assam Assembly polls

Assam went to polls for the 2021 state Assembly elections in 3 phases, starting March 27 and ending on April 6. The Assam assembly election 2021 results vote counting will be held on May 2. The 15-year tenure of late Tarun Gogoi as the Chief Minister of Assam had come to an end in the 2016 Assembly polls with the saffron party winning 86 seats against 26 seats won by the Congress.

However, in a blow for BJP in the lead-up to the 2021 Assam elections, its ally BPF decided to join the Congress-led alliance. While BJP contested 92 seats, it allocated 26 and 8 seats to Asom Gana Parishad and the United People’s Party Liberal respectively. The BJP has refrained from announcing incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal as the CM candidate, leading to speculations that Cabinet Minister and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma might be another contender for the post. 

The Congress, meanwhile, which ruled the state for 15 years from 2001 to 2016, changed its electoral tactics and stitched together an alliance to leverage the consolidation of a previously fragmented anti-BJP vote base to recapture power in the state. It has formed a grand alliance- 'Mahajot' with BPF, AGM, AIUDF, API, CPI(M), RJD and JPP. In order to prevent possible poaching, the Mahajot shifted many of its poll candidates to Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

(Image: PTI-Representative)