Ahmedabad, Dec 9 (PTI): Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia on Saturday complained of possible EVM tampering at three polling booths in a Muslim-dominated area of Porbandar.

Modhwadia claimed that some machines were found to be connected to external devices via Bluetooth.

The Election Commission has initiated an inquiry.

"We detected that the EVMs at three polling booths at Memanwada, a Muslim-dominated area, were connected to external devices through Bluetooth. When the Bluetooth of a mobile phone is turned on, a device named 'ECO 105' is shown as available," Modhwadia, the Congress candidate from Porbandar, said.

This clearly means that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with, he said.

"The chips fitted in the EVMs appear to be programmable using Bluetooth, and this raises the possibility of tampering. The voting system should be immune to such connectivity to external devices," Modhwadia said.

The Congress leader registered a complaint with the district election officer. The election officer visited the booth and saw the display, he added.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) B B Swain said an inquiry was ordered into the matter and the collector and the observer of the Election Commission (EC) were sent to the spot.

The ruling BJP, however, said the complaint shows that the opposition party' is "searching for an excuse" as it knows that it would bite the dust.

"Members of the Congress are saying there is a defect in the EVMs. The EC would respond to it. But we can say that the Congress is searching for an excuse even before the results are out, as it stares at a loss in the elections. They are trying to hide behind the EVMs," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.