Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A bus carrying electronic voting machines (EVMs) from six polling booths in Betul, Madhya Pradesh, caught fire on Tuesday night. This incident took place near Goula village in Multai tehsil of Betul, and several EVMs have been damaged.
According to the information, a mechanical fault in the bus sparked the fire. No injuries were reported. The bus carried 36 polling officials and EVMs from six polling booths, of which four have been damaged.
Talking to ANI, Betul SP Nischal Jharia said, "The polling personnel left with EVMs of six polling booths... The fire broke out due to a mechanical fault. Two EVMs are undamaged, while four others suffered a little damage to their parts. There were 36 people on the bus. They jumped out of the bus by somehow breaking the glass on the windows of the bus as its doors got jammed. They did not suffer injuries. They were sent ahead on another bus. A case has been registered in this regard."
"We have sent a report to the Election Commission. We will take the next steps after instructions come from there. All the polling personnel are safe. They deposited their polling material here. Prima facie, as per the eyewitnesses, it was a mechanical fault," Betul Collector DM Narendra Kumar Suryavanshi told the media.
