Pocket pinch? Ahead of Bengal polls, EC worried over 14k ‘evidence’ EVMs
Times of India | 18 September 2025is concerned over the shortage of voting machines for Bengal assembly polls, especially with booths increasing in 2026.
If the EVMs remain under litigation, the EC will need to bring machines from Hyderabad, which would be a lot more expensive. Transporting a truck loaded with 2,000 EVMs, along with security personnel, will cost the EC around Rs 5 lakh. Bengal will have 94,000 booths going to polls in 2026 and the EC wants to have 1.4 lakh EVMs for it, with each constituency needing 270 to 300 EVMs.
"EVMs can't be reprogrammed until the petitions are resolved at the high court," an EC official said.
Some of these petitions have been pending since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Following narrow victories of SS Ahluwalia in Burdwan-Durgapur and Aparupa Poddar in Arambag, petitions were filed against the MPs, leading to the locking up of the EVMs from the two constituencies.
The 2021 assembly polls witnessed around 15 election petitions, with 11 — one of them filed by CM Mamata Banerjee — still pending.
After the 2024 LS polls, petitions were filed over Diamond Harbour, Basirhat, Arambag and Balurghat. Except Balurghat — represented by Union minister Sukanta Majumdar — all seats were won by Trinamool. While TMC candidates Abhishek Banerjee and Hazi Nurul Islam won by huge margins in Diamond Harbour and Basirhat, the party's Mitali Bag won by mere 6,000 votes in Arambag.
