Rajasthan Orders Re-polling at 10 Stations After EVM Failures

The Rajasthan State Election Commission ordered re-polling at 10 polling stations across Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, and Suket on September 16 following technical malfunctions in electronic voting machines (EVMs) during urban civic body elections. The decision came after reports from District Election Officers and Returning Officers indicated that the number of unrecorded or lost votes exceeded the margin between the closest rival candidates, potentially altering the final outcomes.

In Jaipur, re-polling occurred at five specific booths across Wards 9, 18, 25, and 34. Jaipur District Collector Sandesh Nayak identified the specific booths where results could not be retrieved. To facilitate the process, officials used new ballot papers and applied fresh indelible ink to eligible voters. The Commission directed that original EVMs be sealed and stored in safe custody once the re-poll concluded.

The counting of these fresh votes is scheduled for September 17 starting at 8 a.m., after which results for the remaining four wards in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation will be finalized. This process follows a general victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 78 of 150 wards in Jaipur and narrowly defeated the Indian National Congress across 309 civic bodies by a margin of 0.94 per cent.