The Election Commission has asked the returning officers to prepare detailed reports in response to the complaints filed by Congress candidates alleging irregularities in the working of electronic voting machines in 20 constituencies in the recently held Assembly elections in Haryana, and these will be shared with the candidates very soon, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said today.
Kumar, who was addressing a press conference to announce the schedule for Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, was responding to questions raised by political parties regarding EVMs, and more specifically the complaints raised by the Congress alleging that some EVMs in 20 different constituencies in Haryana were manipulated.
The CEC ruled out any possibility of manipulation of the EVMs in Haryana, saying that as per the standard operating procedure, the machines were at various stages, which include the first level check, randomisation, loading of symbols and assigning of the EVMs to the various booths, sealing the machine after voting and its transportation and storage to the strong room, checked by the agents deputed by the candidates.
“We have received 20 complaints. We will reply individually to each candidate. We will assure them. This is our duty. We will do it soon,” Kumar said.
With regard to the claims made that the battery in some of the EVMs in Haryana was still showing 99 per cent charge at the time of counting and these machines were manipulated, he that the battery life at the time of counting depends on the number of mock polls it has gone through, the number of candidates in that particular constituency etc.
He said if a greater number of votes are cast in the mock poll especially if there is a large number of candidates, the battery life will be lower at the time of counting.
“This (doubts raised based on battery life) is a new thing. Wonder what will come next,” Kumar said.
He said some people have gone to the extent of saying that since pagers have been blown up in the Middle East, EVMs too can be manipulated. “Pagers can be connected (wirelessly). You cannot do that with EVMs,” he said.
Kumar said after the Commission has provided detailed replies to the candidates who made complaints regarding the EVMs in Haryana, the EC will also prepare an FAQ based on the issues raised.