EVM malfunction halts polling for over two hours at Choolaimedu booth in Chennai

CHENNAI: Polling at a booth in T T Arasu Matriculation School in Choolaimedu was disrupted for over two hours on polling day after a malfunction in the electronic voting machine (EVM).Voting began at 7am and was proceeding normally until around 10am, when the EVM suddenly stopped working. At the time of the disruption, more than 100 voters were waiting in line to cast their votes. Election officials removed the faulty machine, bringing polling to a halt.Voters said that they were initially told the issue would be resolved within 30 minutes. “We decided to wait, but even after 45 minutes there was no update from officials. When we asked again, there was no clear response,” said V Rajaram, a resident of Choolaimedu. The delay led to arguments between voters and polling staff.To manage the crowd, officials distributed tokens with numbers written on them to those who chose to leave. Voters were told they could return later, present the token, and skip the queue.The faulty EVM was eventually replaced after nearly two hours, and polling resumed around 12.30pm. Officials took an additional 30 minutes to set up the new machine before voting restarted.