Was There A Ballot Error In Bengaluru? ECI Clarifies Social Media Posts

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday issued clarification regarding reports of alleged ballot error in a polling booth in Bengaluru’s Shantinagar constituency in Karnataka.

The ECI has ruled out any ballot error and stated that such reports circulating on social media are false and baseless. The poll body stated, “Reports of alleged non-activation of a ballot unit by a polling official in a polling booth in Shantinagar in Bengaluru, circulating on social media & WhatsApp as an audio message are incorrect & baseless. The correct position has been outlined below by DEO, after due enquiry.”

The clarification came after the the District Electoral Officer, BBMP had received an audio complaint that the ballot button was not activated in the control unit during the casting the vote in Shantinagar.

However, the Sector Magistrate immediately reached the polling station to report the issue and found that the total entries in register 17A and the Control Unit were perfectly tallied. This indicated that no such case of non-activation of the BALLOT button occurred at the said polling station.

“The same has been confirmed by the Assistant Returning Officer concerned. Hence, the narration in the said audio recording is far from the truth, baseless,” the DEO added.