“Ram nam satya hai!” Protesters of various parties take out a funeral of EVMs in Pune, alleging a scam in counting.@TheQuint @prachikulkarni
I was announced as the winner and given the
official letter under Section 149 (of the Representation of Peoples
Act). Then we were asked to leave. But when we began our victory march,
after about an hour, we were told that votes from one EVM were yet to be
counted. And then suddenly, the BJP candidate was declared the winner.
Manisha Mohite, NCP Candidate, Pune
BJP MP Sanjay Kakde, who played a crucial role in getting
criminals into the BJP fold, had accurately predicted the results for
Pune. He had vowed to give up politics if his prediction proved wrong.
Opposition parties now cite this claim as proof that the ruling party
had manipulated the poll results.
“How Can I Get Zero Votes?”
In Mumbai, independent candidate Shrikant Shirsat got zero
votes at the booth near his residence in Saki Naka in the western
suburbs.
I voted for myself, so did my family and neighbours. The EVM has to be defective. How else can I get zero votes?
Shrikant Shirsat, Independent Candidate, Mumbai
Similar complaints are being reported from various parts of
the state. Efforts are being made to collate data. A body called the
Lokshahi Bachao Andolan has been formed in Nashik to collect data
related to alleged tampering of EVMs.
In Nagpur, the NCP has
threatened that it won’t let the mayor take oath unless an inquiry is
conducted into the “EVM scam”. In nearby Amravati, an all-party bandh was called on Monday over the use of EVMs. It received a good response, with market places remaining closed.
Call for an ‘Anti-EVM Movement’
Along with Nashik, Pune and Amravati, a protest march was
organised in Kolhapur too. Former High Court judge and social activist
BG Kolse Patil is now trying to unite all these protesters and launch a
state-wide agitation.
Going by Modi and Shah’s past, I strongly feel
they may have manipulated the machines. Many scams (relating to EVM
fraud) are now emerging. So, I’ve decided to launch a protest against
them. We want paper trail machines. If that doesn’t happen, we should go
back to ballot paper.
BG Kolse Patil, Former HC Judge and Social Activist
Election Commission of India is experimenting with. It’s officially
called the ‘voter-verified paper audit trail’ or VVPAT, wherein a voter
immediately gets a printout of his vote. This has to then be put into
the ballot box. So, every voter gets to see that his or her vote is
rightly registered and in case of recounting, the printouts can be
counted.
Sabha constituencies in 2014. This happened after the Delhi High Court ruled in 2012
that EVMs in the present form “are not tamper-proof” and the Supreme Court
ordered the Commission to use VVPATs along with EVMs by 2019.
according to BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who had led an anti-EVM movement when
Congress was in power. He had said that “EVMs can be easily tampered
with, manipulated as well as hacked”. But after the BJP came to power in
2014, his stance has changed completely and he finds nothing wrong in
the system anymore.
The process of replacing old EVMs with VVPAT
machines has started. The Modi government has allotted Rs 5,000 crore
for it, but it will take 10-12 years to replace all machines.
Improvement is a continuous process and it takes time. (Shiv Sena chief)
Uddhav Thackeray and (NCP boss) Sharad Pawar are making allegations as
they have vested interests. If they think there’s an EVM scam, all
their elected representative should first resign.
Kirit Somaiya, BJP MP
Live Demonstration of EVM Hacking
Although the BJP is happy with the system today, before 2014,
it would complain of misuse and malfunctioning of EVMs. In fact, Somaiya
and Devendra Fadnavis, who is now Maharashtra CM, were present at an
anti-EVM event in 2010, where Hyderabad techie Hari Prasad had
demonstrated how easily an EVM can be manually manipulated at various
stages.
Hari Prasad was later arrested for stealing EVMs from the
collector’s office in Mumbai. The police officer who had handled this
case recently told MaxMaharashtra:
Today, a lot of allegations are being madeSanjeev Kokil, Retired Police Officer
(against the BJP). When Congress was in power, the BJP had made the same
allegations. In our democracy, the priorities of political parties
change with time… I feel enraged.
The State Election Commission has maintained that the entire election process was transparent and foolproof. Talking to The Quint,
Maharashtra State Election Commissioner JS Saharia admits that there
are various issues involved in acquiring paper trail machines.
The Supreme Court has said that the VVPAT system has to be
implemented only in stages. Even the Election Commission of India has
tried it out only on an experimental basis. There are a large number of
issues, including supply and finance. We will implement it as per the
order of the SC.
JS Saharia, Maharashtra State Election Commissioner
When asked about the protests in Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur and Amravati, he
ruled out any possibility of re-polling anywhere in the state.
We take proper care. Machines are sealed in the presence of polling
agents. There is no possibility of tampering with the machines at all.
In any case, they are tamper-proof. The complainants have only expressed
suspicion. If anyone comes with proof, we will definitely probe that.
There is no system of re-polling as results have been declared.
The defeated candidates in Pune, Nashik and Mumbai have announced that they will move the High Court against the “EVM scam”.
Once
the matter reaches the HC, the Election Commission as well as the
Centre will likely have to inform the court about the progress on
introducing the paper trail (VVPAT) machines. For, the court of the land
is already convinced that the present EVM-based system cannot be called
foolproof unless a paper trail is added to it.
