Thanks to faulty EVM, Kalam waits for an hour to vote

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Wednesday had to wait for at least an hour to cast his vote, thanks to a faulty Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

According to a source, the former president waited for his turn to cast the vote at the K. Kamraj Marg polling station in New Delhi constituency when it was detected that the EVM had some glitch.

"He (Kalam) had to wait for an hour before he got to cast his vote. As it was a long wait, he went back (home) and returned once the EVM was replaced," the official told IANS.

Apart from the renowned nuclear scientist, many Supreme Court judges and the army and navy chiefs cast their votes at the polling station.

"At the time of the EVM replacement, 412 votes had been cast on the machine. A lot of Supreme Court judges, Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh, Indian naval chief D.K. Joshi, and (Union Minister) Kapil Sibal had cast their votes," the official said.

Until 1 p.m., a total of 112 EVMs were replaced during and before polling in the national capital.

"Technical glitches are the only reasons that lead to EVM replacements," the Election Commission official added.