26 April,2024 06:34 PM IST | Nanded | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File/iStock
A 26-year-old man allegedly damaged an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) by hitting it with an iron object when he came to cast his vote for Lok Sabha elections 2024 at a polling booth at Rampuri in Maharashtra's Nanded district on Friday, a police official said, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, the police detained the man, who told them that he wanted a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government, he said.
"The man, Bhaiyyasaheb Edke, is a local resident and a registered voter of Rampuri booth. He came to the polling booth to cast his vote, but damaged an EVM with an iron object. He was immediately detained and the voting process continued soon afterwards as the broken machine was replaced with a new one," Nanded Superintendent of Police (SP) Shrikrushna Kokate told PTI.
Police have launched an investigation to know the motive behind his act of damaging the EVM, he said.
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"The man says he wants a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government in place. We are trying to find out if he is linked to any political party. He is well-educated and has done courses in law and journalism. He was in Pune for 10 months before he returned to his village," the SP added, the news agency reported on Friday.
43 percent polling till 3 pm in 2nd phase of polls in Maharashtra
In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Friday, eight constituencies in Maharashtra recorded voter turnout of 43.01 percent until 3 pm, according to officials, reported the PTI.
The voting in the central Marathwada region's Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani constituencies, as well as the Vidarbha (eastern Maharashtra) seats of Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, and Yavatmal-Washim began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
Wardha recorded 45.95 percent turnout, Akola 42.69 percent, Amravati 43.76 percent, Buldhana 41.66 percent, Hingoli 40.5 percent, Nanded 42.42 percent, Parbhani 44.49 percent and Yavatmal-Washim 42.55 percent, election officials said, as per the PTI.
Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), voted along with his family members in the initial hours in Maharashtra's Nanded district.
As many as 1.49 crore voters (77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women and 432 persons from third gender category) are eligible to cast ballots across 16,589 polling centres.
There are a total of 204 candidates in the fray -- 21 in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded and 34 in Parbhani.
On April 19, five seats in eastern Vidarbha--Nagpur, Ramtek, Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondia and Gadchiroli-Chimur went to polls, registering a voter turnout of 63.70 per cent, according to the PTI.
(with PTI inputs)
