Repolling began in six booths in Gujarat on Sunday morning with all eyes now set on the counting of votes on Monday. Repolling is being done in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Banaskantha districts of the state that voted in the second phase on December 14.
The repolling was necessitated after an election officer forgot to remove the mock poll data before the commencement of the actual elections. Meanwhile, voting was suspended at two booths in Vadgam after ink marks were found on the election symbol of Independent candidate Jignesh Mevani. The EC took cognizance of the matter after BJP candidate Vijay Chakravarty raised objections.
The Election Commission erased the votes polled on these booths from the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and fresh polling is underway. The EC also ordered that Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips should be counted at 10 booths in seven constituencies, as the presiding officers of these booths had failed to wipe out the votes cast during the mock poll from control units. Also, there would be random counting of VVPATs at a booth each in every constituency when votes would be tallied across the state on December 18.
