Davanagere:  In what is termed a rare incident, the locks of three strong rooms where EVMs were stored at DRR School on PB Road here had to be broken this morning before the commencement of the counting of votes, as the keys  went missing.

The counting of votes, which was to start at 7.30 am, was delayed by half an hour. A man, with a hammer and chisel, broke the locks with security personnel standing guard.

The locks of the strong rooms were broken in the presence of the Returning Officer (RO) Santosh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner (DC) G.M. Gangadhara Swamy and Election  Observer Ramankanth.