Just two days before counting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 22 Opposition parties submitted a memorandum before the Election Commission (EC)on Tuesday, 21 May, requesting that the verification of VVPAT slips of randomly identified (5) polling stations be done before vote counting is initiated, and not after the last round of counting is completed.
 
In the memorandum, the Opposition leaders have also demanded 100% counting of VVPAT paper slips in all polling stations of the Assembly segment if any discrepancy is found anywhere during VVPAT verification.
 
Congress leader Abhishek Singhv said “We raised these same issues in last one and a half months. We asked EC why they have not responded. Strangely, EC heard us for almost an hour and they assured us they’ll meet again tomorrow morning to consider primarily these two issues.”
 
“On VVPATs and the EVM tally, the EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch. Even if there is one mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process, all VVPATs in that Assembly segment must be counted.”
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, as quoted by PTI
 
Demanding transparency and fairness in vote counting, the Opposition parties also raised concerns over the various transportation of EVMs ahead of the counting.
 
A few days back, the SC had asked the EC to tally the VVPAT slips with the EVM figures of five polling stations in each Assembly constituency across the country, which may delay the results by six hours according to EC sources
 
Before meeting the EC, the leaders had met at the Constitution Club in the national capital to discuss the issue. The Opposition leaders also reportedly discussed the possibility of a non-NDA alliance staking claim to form government in the national capital.
 
Naidu, Azad, Kejriwal and Derek O’Brien Attend Meet
Among the leaders who met on Tuesday were Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Ashok Gehlot and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, TMC’s Derek O’Brien, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, BSP’s Satish Chandra Misra, SP’s Ramgopal Yadav, DMK’s Kanimozhi, CPI’s D Raja, RJD’s Manoj Jha, NCP’s Majeed Memon and NC’s Devinder Rana.
 
However, Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy had cancelled his scheduled visit to Delhi, he was expected to take part in the meeting, official sources said.
 
Also In a related development, the apex court on Tuesday had dismissed a PIL seeking 100 percent matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs during the vote counting on 23 May.