• Source:JND
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Betul Bus Fire News: A bus carrying polling officials and electronic voting machines caught fire in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district, causing damage to a few EVMs, a senior official said. However, no polling staff and the driver of the bus suffered any injury in the incident, Betul Collector Narendra Suryavanshi said. The incident took place near Gola village in the Betul district around 11 PM on Tuesday, Suryavanshi said. According to the collector, the fire broke out because of a spark in the bus, but no one suffered any injuries in the incident.

The fire affected EVMs from four polling stations, specifically, booths numbered 275 to 280. The fire brigade successfully extinguished the flames that gutted the bus entirely. At the time of the incident, the bus carried six polling parties and an equal number of EVMs, among which four EVMs got damaged while two others were safe, Suryavanshi said.

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Regarding the potential impact on the recorded vote count, the collector affirmed that he will submit a report to the Election Commission. The decision regarding re-polling in the affected booths will be taken by the commission, he added.

Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Voting

According to polling officials, a total of 72.65 per cent voting was recorded in the Betul Lok Sabha seat in the third phase of general elections held on May 7. Polling in the third phase was held on Morena, Bhind (SC-reserved), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul (ST-reserved). A total of 127 candidates, including Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and two former chief ministers, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) and Digvijaya Singh, who belongs to Congress, were in the fray.

(With PTI Inputs)