Acting on the declaration of the Election Commission of India (ECI) that they would bring electronic voting machines (EVMs) from the States where Assembly elections have been held recently to enable those alleging manipulation of the EVMs during the elections to hack the machines to buttress their charges, Uttarakhand Election Commission officials have decided to send two EVMs, one each from Chakrata and Dehradun Cant constituencies, to ECI. Interestingly, Congress had won from the Chakrata constituency while BJP had bagged the Dehradun Cant constituency.
Sources privy to the ECI said that the hackathon might be held on June 3. The matter has triggered interest in Uttarakhand with Congress and BSP attributing the landslide of the saffron party to the EVMs being tampered with. “The hackathon exercise is an imperative to clear the clouds of doubt hovering over the credibility of the EVM mode of voting,” says a political commentator based in Dehradun
Confirming that the two EVMs would be sent from the State for the hackathon, the additional district magistrate/ deputy district election officer Dehradun Harbeer Singh said on Saturday that they are acting on the direction of the Election Commission of India (CEC) while talking to The Pioneer.
Singh further said that the polling booths- booth number 19 Darmigaad of Chakrata Assembly constituency and the booth number 27 Kanwali Road of Dehradun Cant Assembly constituency- have been selected through the process of randomization. “The process was conducted by the ECI and later ECI informed us of the selection.
All the political parties which contested the election have been intimated of the selection. The process being completed, we would send the two EVMs to ECI on June 1, a day before the possible date of hackathon,” he said.
He informed that these two EVMs have been kept under tight security in the treasury. “They would be brought out at 10 am on May 30 and would be sent to ECI the next day under double- lock security. The higher functionaries of all the accredited political parties have been requested to be present during the time the EVMs would be sent to ECI,” Singh informed.
Chakratat Assembly seat had been won by the Congress candidate and the present state Congress president Pritam Singh while BJP had registered victory in Derhadun cant seat with the candidate being veteran Harbans Kapur. Observers say that selection of these two constituencies is meant to send the message that the commission is acting impartially.
“If manipulation in one or both of the EVMs can be proved the doubt over the tampering- proof credibility of the machines would be bolstered. But if the allegation remains unproved in course of the hackathon the issue would be buried once and for all,” an observer said.