49% voting in repolls in Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondiya bypoll

Nagpur, May 30 (IANS) Around 49 percent voting was recorded in the re-polling in 49 polling stations on Wednesday for the bypolls to Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency, officials said.

There were no complaints of any glitches in the Electronic Voting Machine-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (EVM-VVPATs) till the voting ended at 3 pm, an election official from Bhandara said.

The counting of votes will be held as per schedule on Thursday in both Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seats.

The repoll was ordered by Election Commission after widespread incidents of malfunctioning EVM-VVPATs during the polling held on Monday in the constituency.

The re-polling was taken up in 49 polling stations spread across Bhandara, Sakoli, Arjuni-Morgaon, Tirora and Gondiya assembly segments that comprise Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary seat in eastern Maharashtra.

On Tuesday, Gondiya Collector Abhimanyu R. Kale - who was overseeing the Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituency elections - was shunted out and replaced by Kadambari S. Balkawde.

The high-stakes bypolls saw widespread glitches in EVM-VVPATs and allegations of foul play by all opposition parties and ruling ally Shiv Sena.