As the voting for the first phase of Gujarat elections began on Saturday morning, reports of malfunctioning and tampering of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)s surfaced in some polling booths in Rajkot and Surat. The Congress flagged the possible tampering of EVMs by using bluetooth and wifi on the mobile phones.

Till 12 PM, the State registered overall 30 per cent voting that started in the morning at 8.

Congress candidate from Porbandar Arjun Modhwadia alleged tampering of EVMs by use of bluetooth on mobile phones. "All the machines got connected to the bluetooth available on the mobile phones,” Modhwadia told the media. The Congress has also raised a complaint with the Election Commission seeking an action.

The Chief Electoral Officer for Gujarat B B Swain stated that a probe has been ordered into Modhwadia's plea.

In Surat, the Congress alleged malfunctioning of EVMs in Patidar areas. "EVM malfunction reports are coming from Surat and Amreli. Also in some places, VVPAT are not working," Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said.

Voting is taking place at 50,128 polling stations across 89 assembly constituencies having total of 4,33,37,492 voters in the first phase of voting.

Reports of malfunctioning of EVMs or technical snag continued from Saurashtra and South Gujarat regions including Rajkot, Surat, Amreli districts. To this, Swain responded, "We have received complaints of faulty EVMs from some places and all such machines have been replaced with the spare ones kept at the polling stations."

Earlier in the morning, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani with his family cast their vote in Rajkot, while Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel cast his vote at his native in Bharuch district.

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