Ahead of the announcement of the Delhi assembly polls schedule, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday addressed growing concerns regarding the integrity of the electoral process in India.
Addressing the media, Kumar talked about the recent allegations of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) fraud and the tampering of Electoral Rolls (ER) during the election season.
CEC Rajiv Kumar categorically stated that such allegations were unfounded and clarified that tampering with EVMs and Electoral Rolls is and will never be possible.
Kumar noted that recently political leaders and several voters raised certain concerns regarding the voting process. In the process, he also listed 6 major doubts flagged to the poll panel.
What are the 6 prime concerns
CEC Rajiv Kumar addressed six key concerns at the press briefing and these are:
- Wrongful additions or deletions in ER, groups targeted
- EVMs manipulated
- VTR increases from 5 pm onwards
- Mismatch in votes polled and counted in some ACs
- Counting slowed down
- Changed rules to restrict transparency
What did CEC Rajiv Kumar say
CEC Rajiv Kumar said that the Election Commission will answer all the questions raised over the conducting of polls as "right to question is built in democracy and we respect this right".
{{/usCountry}}CEC Rajiv Kumar said that the Election Commission will answer all the questions raised over the conducting of polls as "right to question is built in democracy and we respect this right".
{{/usCountry}}He noted that "processes can't be judged by results".
Addressing the concerns about the electoral roll, the CEC said that there many processes through which parties, candidate remain with the poll body whenever electoral roll is made.
There are regular meetings and nothing can be done without form 6, he said, adding that every party has the right to appoint a BLA.
"All claims and objections are shared with all political parties, there can't be any deletion without form 7," he added.
With the concern raised over the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the CEC said that EVMs are commissioned 7-8 days before poll day and agents can conduct mock polls. "Same day, a new battery is installed and EVM submitted to strong room and sealed in front of agents," the CEC said.
He went on to explain that on the day of the election itself, mock polls are conducted again and polling agents are inside the stations. EVMs are transported from the polling stations to the strong rooms under proper supervision and security, Kumar added, following which the strong rooms are sealed and remain under continuous monitoring.
CEC Rajiv Kumar clarified that EVMs are not hackable, adding that there are no evidence of unreliability or any drawback.
"There is no question of introducing virus or bug, of invalid votes in EVM and no rigging is possible," Kumar noted.
The chief election commissioner noted that no alteration can be done in the results by activating a Trojan Horse. "EVMs are full proof device for counting and the allegations of tampering it are baseless," Kumar said.
Addressing another concern about voter turnout being manipulated, the CEC said that it is "impossible" to change the voter turnout. He said that the narrative about voter turnout increasing after 5 pm is "misleading".
He said that the tallying of EVM votes polled with Form 17C are available with polling agents, adding that the postal ballots figures are not available on the voter turnout app.