New Delhi: In a major announcement, the Election Commission of India has denied the claims that said four electronic voting machines (EVMs) were recording one extra vote for the BJP during a mock poll
New Delhi: In a major announcement, the Election Commission of India has denied the claims that said four electronic voting machines (EVMs) were recording one extra vote for the BJP during a mock poll in Kerala’s Kasaragod, as per a report by news agency ANI.
An ECI official present in the Supreme Court said that the news reported and cited is totally false.
Senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas told a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta that “these news reports are false. We have verified the allegation from the district collector and it appears that it is false. We will submit a detailed report to the court.”
The response of an ECI official came during the hearing of a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
Earlier in the day, the bench asked senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, to look into the issue after advocate Prashant Bhushan cited a news report that flagged the issue.
Bhushan, representing the NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’, cited a report on mock poll results in Kerala where extra votes for the BJP were found recorded. As asked by the bench, the ECI official present in the courtroom explained the workings of the EVMs and VVPAT.
He said the manufacturer does not know which button is going to be allotted to which party or which machine is going to be allotted to which state. He also apprised the court that there had been no mismatch ever between EVMs and VVPAT slips.
During the hearing, the bench observed, “This is the electoral process. There has to be sanctity. Let nobody have apprehension that something that is expected is not being done.”
VVPAT is an independent vote verification system that enables an elector to see whether his vote was cast correctly. The VVPAT generates a paper slip that is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened if there is a dispute. Currently, the VVPAT slips of five randomly selected EVMs in every assembly segment are verified.
(With inputs from agencies)
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