A bus transporting voting officials and electronic voting machines (EVMs) went up in flames in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district, resulting in damage to several EVMs, as per a statement from a senior official. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported among the polling staff or the bus driver, Betul Collector Narendra Suryavanshi confirmed to the media.

The incident occurred near Gola village around 11 pm on Tuesday, according to Suryavanshi.

The fire reportedly originated from a spark within the bus, but fortunately, no injuries were sustained. The blaze caused damage to EVMs from four polling stations, identified as booth numbers 275 to 280.

#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh: A bus, carrying polling personnel, burst into flames while returning from Goula Village in the Multai assembly constituency of Betul Lok Sabha constituency last night. The polling personnel jumped off the bus and were safe. However, four EVMs suffered… pic.twitter.com/wlqMXrlB2z

— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2024

Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames, but the bus was left completely charred.

At the time of the incident, there were six polling teams and an equal number of EVMs onboard. Among them, four EVMs were damaged while the remaining two remained unharmed, Suryavanshi explained.

In the affected EVMs, either the control unit or the ballot unit suffered damage due to the fire.

Responding to concerns about the impact on recorded votes, the collector stated that he would submit a report to the Election Commission for further action. The commission will decide whether re-polling is necessary for the affected booths.

According to a polling official, the Betul Lok Sabha seat recorded a total of 72.65% voter turnout.

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