Workers of Opposition parties stage dharna on NH5 in Baripada on Sunday night. Telegraph picture

Balasore, April 21: Tension mounted in Baripada, headquarters of Mayurbhanj district, last night after news spread that an attempt of manipulation in electronic voting machines had allegedly been made at the behest of the district administration.

Workers of various political parties, who were keeping a close vigil near the district rural development agency (DRDA) complex, sounded alert to their leaders after they had spotted a vehicle loaded with such machines parked near the place, where the machines were stored after the polling.

Candidates of various political parties and their supporters gheraoed the DRDA office in protest. Subsequently, they blocked the national highway No. 5, resulting in disruption of traffic for about two hours.

The agitators were pacified around 4am today morning after the district collector disclosed that those machines were the reserved ones. On the demand of the agitators, the administration kept those machines under seal for further verification by a high-level team in their presence.

Mayurbhanj district BJP unit president Krushna Chandra Mohapatra said: “There has been a strong suspicion that the ruling party is trying for tampering of the electronic voting machines. Therefore, we have been keeping a surveillance on the premises, where the machines are stored after polling.”

“Last night, we found a vehicle parked in front of the DRDA office loaded with EVMs. That raised a strong suspicion among all of us. Why at all the EVMs, be it a demo or a reserved ones, should be shifted at night? Therefore, we smelt a mala-fide intention of the district administration,” he said.

Congress Lok Sabha candidate and a former police officer Shyam Sundar Hansda said: “It is quite natural to suspect the activities of the district administration as the machines were being shifted in the night hours.”

“We withdrew agitation as the district administration had agreed to our demand for inspection of the suspected EVMs by an expert team in our presence,” he said.

Mayurbhanj district collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil made it clear that those machines were kept standby for replacement in case of any technical snags. There was no ill intention behind shifting them from municipality office to the central warehouse,” he said.

There are around 10 per cent machines, kept for the purpose of demonstration and replacement, remain unused, said Patil.