Even after Oppostion scaled down from their earlier demand of 50% to 25% but EC adamant and aggressive stand not to count more than 2% of VVPATs in the coming Lok Sabha 2019 elections and further happenings during election process raise eyebrows amidst Indian Voting Population
Case 1 :
On 6 May, when India was voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls, a mysterious video of a van full of EVMs wandering on a Lucknow road without any security went viral.
What caught the attention of journalist Anurag Dhanda, who shared the video, was that the van was seen moving around with so many EVMs even before the polling process had come to an end.
It is to be noted Lucknow too was voting in the fifth phase with Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking a re-election.
Case 2 :
RTI replies obtained by a Mumbai-based activist, Manoranjan Roy, has become a topic of intense social media discussion on the curious case of 20 lakh missing EVMs. As reported by Janta Ka Reporter, Roy in April last year had alleged that an RTI reply obtained from the manufacturers of the EVMs and the central government pointed to huge discrepancies.
According to Roy, as reported by The Hindu Group’s Frontline Magazine, the Election Commission told him in an RTI reply that it received.,
10,05,662 EVMs from BEL (an EVM manufacturer) between 1989-90 and 2014-15.
ECI also stated that it received 10,14,644 EVMs from ECIL (which is another manufacturer) between 1989-90 and 2016-17.
According to Janta Ka Reporter in April last year, Bengaluru-based BEL had said that it supplied 19,69,932 EVMs to the ECI between 1989-90 and 2014-15.
The RTI reply by the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Ltd had said that it supplied 19,44,593 EVMs to the ECI.
Thus, Frontline magazine report also said that in a span of around 15 years the ECI has not received 9,64,270 EVMs that BEL states to have delivered and 9,29,949 EVMs that ECIL affirms to have delivered to it.
Now based on above figure Intersting Question emerges Where are these excess number of EVMs going, what is being done with them.”
The lengthy election process during 2019 and storage of EVMs for longer period and refusal of EC to count even scaled down demand of VVPAT from 21 parties who scored more than 50% polled votes in last general 2014 is cause of concern
Case 3
At least 200 slips of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were found in a government school premises in Atmakur town of Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district on Monday, triggering panic among district officials.
Case 4 5 & 6
Our police personnel were suspended and a poll official was issued show cause notice in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district on Tuesday for keeping six EVMs inside a hotel room while voting was on for the fifth phase, a top official said.
The matter came to light when several local leaders of the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ noticed that poll-related E were being taken inside a hotel by Sector Magistrate Awadhesh Kumar and raised an alarm.
It is to be noted post election in Madurai Constituency during last week of April it was found four government officials inclusive of data entry operation found inside EVM strong room where ballots been kept . During night more than 4 hours they are inside the strong room reported local news agencies .
A day after opposition parties held a protest outside the Theni Thalisdhar’s office over shifting of electronic voting machines (EVMs) from Coimbatore, the DMK yesterday asked the Election Commission for clarification on the “suspicious movements”. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer, DMK MP RS Bharathi asked the poll body about the sudden movement of EVMs and VVPATs to Theni and Erode. The DMK leader also requested the EC not to allow similar movements without informing political parties or representatives in the area.
More such cases can be written that makes readers go fatigue but the reliability of EVMs in this election has been a topic of intense discussion with most malfunctioning machines favouring the BJP.
In one specific instance, the BJP candidate had polled 17 votes during a mock poll in Goa even though the votes assigned to him were just nine.
The ECI had later admitted fault and replaced the EVM set at that polling booth. Earlier, this week, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a review plea by 21 opposition parties to increase the mandatory tallying of 50% VVPAT machines with that of EVMs on the day of the counting.
Undeterred by the verdict TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said he will approach the Election Commission (EC) requesting counting of all the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) in an Assembly segment in case any discrepancy or mismatch is found in any of the five VVPATs-EVMs are that are required to be verified.
Author is on the firm opinion IF not heading opposition parties request for 50% verification of VVPATS with EVMs at least a random choice of 200 VVPATS ( approx 13%) verification in each MP Constituency not only break the ice of allegations but sure to ensure a 100% full proof Poll practise that will boast World Largest Democratic nation Indian’s Image in International Countries towards Election Conduct using EVMs
