Varanasi officer admits to a lapse in EVM protocol, suspended

The Commissioner of Varanasi, Deepak Agarwal, was suspended from duty a day before the announcement of election results, on Wednesday, following allegations of lapse in protocol during the movement of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
While speaking to the media, following the allegations, Deepak appeared to admit to the mistake. However, he stressed that the machines under scrutiny were only used for training purposes.  This comes a day after Samajwadi Party’s president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that a truck carrying EVMs was “intercepted” in Varanasi and accused the ruling BJP of attempting to “steal” votes.
The party on Twitter shared the video where it appears that the commissioner admitted to the lapse.
“If you talk about the protocol for the transport of EVMs, there was a lapse in the protocol. I will accept that. But I can guarantee you, it is impossible to take away machines used in voting,” Agarwal said. He also elaborated on the fact that there were CCTV cameras, security guards, and representatives of all political parties at counting centers.
Also Read SP should be alert till last vote is counted: Tejashwi EVM मूवमेंट में चुनाव आयोग के प्रोटोकॉल का पालन नहीं किया गया- कमिश्नर वाराणसी कई जिलों में ईवीएम में हेरा-फेरी की जानकारी प्राप्त हो रही है। ये किसके इशारे पर हो रहा है? क्या अधिकारियों पर सीएम ऑफिस से दबाव बनाया जा रहा है? चुनाव आयोग कृपया स्पष्ट करे @ECISVEEP @ceoup pic.twitter.com/D71xr8h8Tu — Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 9, 2022 The Varanasi district administration said EVMs meant for training purposes were being transported in a truck, which was stopped by some “political persons” who spread “rumours” that the machines were used in the just-concluded polls.