An electronic voting machine (EVM) was found recording votes only for the BJP at a polling booth in Meerut during the ongoing civic elections in Uttar Pradesh, reports in Hindustan Times and The Times of India said. Problems with EVMs were reported from Agra as well, where voters at Gautam Nagar’s booth 69 alleged that whichever button was being pressed, the vote was going to the BJP.

In Meerut’s Dhawai Nagar locality, voters erupted in protests for most of the day on Wednesday after the EVM registered votes for the BJP irrespective of the button being pressed. A voter had complained that while pressing the button to vote for the BSP, the lights on the BJP and NOTA buttons flashed.

Officials termed the EVM as “malfunctioning”. City additional district magistrate Mukesh Kumar was quoted as saying in the TOI report: “We replaced the machine, which was malfunctioning, immediately.”

Non-BJP parties are alleging that the machines have been rigged.

A video of the voter, Tasleem Ahmad, shows him trying to vote for the BSP. “I voted for the BSP candidate. I am still holding the pressed button. The machine has recorded my vote as having gone to the BJP. I have been waiting here for an hour, but no solution has been provided so far,” he can be heard saying in the video.

An EVM, after recording a vote, is immediately locked, so the voter can’t choose a different option.

Over 52 per cent voting was recorded in the first phase of the civic elections, with Congress bastion Amethi logging a high turnout of 68.44 per cent and CM Yogi Adityanath’s hometurf Gorakhpur registering just 39.23 per cent.