Satna, December 04: An SUV rammed the boundary wall of a strongroom in Satna district on early hours of Monday morning. The incident sparked protests from Congress leaders. According to a report, a portion of the boundary wall was damaged by the impact of the collision. The police seized the vehicle, and two of the six youths were arrested. EVMs Reach Storage Centre 48 Hours After Elections in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar, Congress Alleges 'Tampering'.

Kotwali police station in-charge, Vidhyadhar Pandey told The Times of India, “A black Scorpio car bearing registration number MP 19 CB 0505 was seized in the night and two accused identified as Pramod Yadav and Rudra Kushwaha were arrested.” Meanwhile, the other four accused including Shailesh Kushwaha, Sanu Kushwaha, Satyavrat Singh and one other are on the run.

According to the TOI report, all the accused were in inebriated condition and during the police interrogation, they confessed that they wanted to check the EVM strongroom. The police have registered a case for trespassing, violating the model code of conduct and other relevant sections were registered against the accused after the report of the returning officer and SDM Satna CS Tripathi.

It is not the first time when the security of a strongroom was breached. In a similar incident on November 30, a portion of the boundary wall of the EVM strongroom in Satna district headquarters was found damaged. Meanwhile, on December 2, the Election Commission admitted that CCTV cameras installed at a Bhopal strongroom did not function for over an hour due to an unprecedented power cut on Friday. Acting tough, the election body also stated that it would take action against an official who allegedly delayed the handover of EVMs in Sagar by nearly two days.

The assembly elections in the state were held on November 28, while the results will be declared on December 11. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to come to the power for the fourth consecutive time.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 04, 2018 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).