In view of allegations by a number of Opposition parties that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were tampered to favour the BJP in the recent Assembly and MCD polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has planned a strong stepwise counter.
Sometime after May 12, the representatives of all political parties and their experts would be invited separately to randomly select any EVM used in any booth in the recent concluded Assembly polls in five States. The leaders of the Opposition parties could also send their representatives/experts to see the live demonstration of the functioning of the voting machines.
“Once any leader approaches the ECI on the issue, he or she would first be asked to select the EVM of any booth. Then, the leader along with the representatives of the poll panel will be sent to the particular State to get the EVM of their choice. It will be for the particular leader to decide whether he would like to travel by his own vehicle or in the one provided by the poll panel. Once EVM is selected, it will be sealed and brought back to Delhi in the vehicle in which the leader will be traveling”.
“Then, in the presence of one and all, the data of the machine will be deleted and preserved. Once the polling data is deleted, polling will be conducted in presence of those who had raised fingers over the functioning of the EVM’s. They would also be invited to heck the voting in presence of ECI representatives,” said the sources.
ECI officials are confident that voting machine cannot be tampered. “If the EVM is found in perfect shape, will the politicians tender a public apology since questions have been raised on our functioning and it is necessary to restore faith of people in the independent poll panelIJ We just want to put an end to this unnecessary controversy,” said a senior official of ECI.
As many as 16 political parties including AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have alleged that EVMs were tampered. Kejriwal had even gone to the extent of saying that if a person presses any button; the vote would automatically go in favour of the BJP. Citing his IIT background, he had also claimed that he could practically demonstrate in 10 different ways how these machines could be tampered with. For her part, Mayawati filed a plea in the Apex Court alleging tampering of voting machines.