Party workers campaigning at Mahalaxmi Layout, Bangalore North, are persuading voters to vote for their candidates. One party worker asked our reporters to press the second button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), after assuming that they were citizens going in to cast their vote.
In a flagrant violation of the Election Commission’s directive, canvassing for votes was done within 100 metres of polling booths. Polling booth nos. 103 and 104 in Malleshwaram, which come under Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, witnessed the transgression of this explicit rule. Voters were allowed to enter polling stations with voter slips which carried the symbol of a national party as well as the names and faces of candidates.
When asked about the same, the Public Relations Officer of both the polling stations, Manoj Kumar, said: “We are not allowing such slips. They shall be torn, if found.’’
It was, however, seen that such slips were allowed both before and after his statement.
A similar violation was observed at booth no. 111 in Nalbanwadi, which comes under Bengaluru Rural Parliamentary constituency. The voter slips here had photographs of Congress candidate DK Suresh.
(Inputs by Lanka Samanth, Mansi Pawar, Tejendra Parmar)
