Lucknow: Amid the Opposition’s concerns about voting machines just ahead of the counting of votes in the national election Thursday, allegations have surfaced of electronic voting machines being tampered with in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana, leading to protests outside voting machine storage rooms.
Responding to the claims, the Election Commission said the voting machines were maintained in “proper security and protocol”.
In eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate held a sit-in outside the storage room for electronic voting machines (EVMs) last night. Afzal Ansari and his supporters claim there was an attempt to take out a vehicle full of electronic voting machines. The police and the district have denied the allegations. Afzal Ansari is the brother of jailed Uttar Pradesh strongman Mukhtar Ansari who has a number of cases against him.
Afzal Ansari’s opponent in Ghazipur is Union Minister Manoj Sinha of the BJP. The sit-in ended after the returning officer of the district assured the protestors that arrangements are in place to have representatives of the candidates at vantage points around the EVM strongrooms and that there will be complete transparency.
A mobile phone clip shot Monday from the Chandauli parliamentary seat, not far from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi seat, shows EVMs being off-loaded and put in a room inside the counting centre complex. Supporters of the Samajwadi Party candidate in Chandauli, who filmed the video, can be heard questioning why the voting machines were being off-loaded a day after polling and why they were not brought in earlier.
The administration says the machines seen in the video are about 35 reserve EVM units from an assembly segment in Chandauli. Officials said these voting machines reached the storage room and the counting centre later than the other EVMs because of logistical issues.
Ghazipur and Chandauli voted Sunday, in the final round of seven-phase election.
Last Tuesday, workers of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, who fought the polls together, ‘caught’ a mini-truck full of EVMs being taken out of the compound of a storage room in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Domariyaganj seat. The alliance workers said this was an attempt by the BJP to tamper with the voting machines. After protests, the voting machines were taken back into the counting centre compound.
The local administration claimed these were extra EVMs sent to them before the sixth round of voting and that they were being taken to districts voting in the seventh phase. The district official of the area reached the spot and called an election team on his phone through the loudspeaker and tried to get them to acknowledge that the transfer of EVMs was happening as per their orders but the man on the other side apparently denied any knowledge of this.
Similar allegations have come up from Jhansi, Mau, Mirzapur and parts of Haryana, Punjab and Bihar too.
The videos and the allegations have emerged just ahead of a meeting of 21 Opposition parties, including the Congress, with the Election Commission this afternoon to flag their concerns about Electronic Voting Machines and the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Trail Machines).
In Bihar, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal alleged suspicious movement of EVMs in Maharajganj and Saran parliamentary constituencies. The party’s allegations were later refuted by the administration stating that it was for the purpose of training.
“Visuals and claims of sudden movement of EVMs observed across the north India! Why is it so? Who is transporting these EVMs & Why? What is purpose and objective of this exercise? In order to avoid any confusion & misconception, Election Commission must issue a statement ASAP,” Bihar Opposition leader Tejashiw Yadav tweeted.
According to an order by the Election Commission in December last year, all EVMs that were used for voting and reserve EVMs “shall be under cover of armed police at all times” after polling process is over. The order says “reserve EVMs should also be returned at the same time when the polled EVMs are returned at the receipt center”.
PTI