Paper trail of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) that reportedly dispensed slips of BJP symbol only, irrespective of the button pressed, during a demonstration exercise in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district has led the Opposition to once again level charges that the machines could be tampered and it was through this manipulation that the BJP stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh.
The Election Commission on Saturday ordered a probe into the incident and sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities. It also transferred 19 officials, including the District Magistrate and the SP of the district.
Bypolls are due in Ater Assembly constituency in Bhind district and Bandhavgarh (ST) in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh next week and the Friday’s demonstration was part of the familiarisation exercise.
“We have sought a detailed report from district election officer and would come up with a response in the evening,” a Commission spokesperson said.
Following the controversy, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party rushed to the Election Commission in Delhi taking up the matter and urging for conduct of bypolls through paper ballots.
The Congress alleged the paper trail attached to the EVM generated a slip of the BJP’s symbol when Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh had pressed the button for the SP. They demanded the EC to ensure free and fair election and absolute neutrality of the officers.
After the meeting, the EC decided to depute two teams of high-level officers led by Bhanwar lal, CEO Andhra Pradesh, to supervise the by-elections in MP.
In a hurriedly called Press conference in Bhopal, Saleena Singh, however, denied the reports that voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) dispensed only BJP slips. She said her office and the district poll authorities had sent reports on the issue to the Election Commission. “During the demonstration, the VVPAT first dispensed a slip with (BJP’s) lotus symbol but the second one had (Congress’) hand symbol,” she said.
In the statement, the ECI said, “To ensure the correct functioning of EVMs and VVPATs being deployed in the two Assembly constituencies, the commission has also decided to depute two teams of officers of the Commission along with technical experts.”
The teams will include RK Srivastava, Senior Principal Secretary and Varinder Kumar, Principal Secretary. The teams will supervise the implementation of all administrative and security instructions of the ECI for the conduct of elections.
The integrity of the EVMs and the VVPATs to be used in the poll will be demonstrated to the complete satisfaction of all stakeholders by the teams. These teams will remain in the Assembly Constituency till the counting is over.
The voters see VVPAT slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election. VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home.
VVPAT-enabled machines would be used at Assembly by-elections at Ater in Bhind district and Bandhavgarh in Umaria district on April 9.
Singh explained that if the VVPAT slip doesn’t reflect the voter’s choice correctly, he or she can file a declaration, and the election officer will have to follow a set procedure to verify the claim.
If the officer finds the claim to be correct, the voting will be stopped, the CEO said.
“If it is other way round (if the claim is incorrect) the voter will be booked and can face six months’ imprisonment or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both after trial (under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961),” she said.
Asked about the reports that she threatened to send mediapersons to jail if they continued to say that VVPAT was dispensing only BJP slips, Singh said, “It was in a lighter vein.” “Some elements, not media persons, twisted the issue,” she added.