Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 15: The Congress was under fire from the Election Commission of India for again raising doubts on the reliability of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the Haryana elections where its leaders had claimed that the victory of the BJP was due to “votes by machines” and not the people’s verdict.
“How much more transparent can one be?” asked the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday as he again underlined that the EVMs were “safe and robust” and could not be hacked at any stage. He also questioned if there was any example anywhere in the country where there was so much thrust on disclosure and participation.
“How many times)? Anyway,” said the Chief Election Commissioner as the EVM question was put to him yet again at the press conference convened by the ECI to announce the polling schedules for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections. In the just concluded polls in Haryana, the Congress, which the exit polls predicted was in for a sweeping victory but ended up a looser, had alleged tampering with the EVMs in some 20 seats where machines with varying battery strength gave out different results.
Kumar replied to the question of hacking of EVMs, “No. EVMs can’t be hacked. It is because pagers are connected, but EVMs are not.” “Questions have been raised over EVMs in the past too. First some said that a vote cast for one party can go to the other…Now we are wondering what will be the next accusation. It will come for sure, such claims won’t stop,” said Kumar, adding the EVMs are fool proof as the battery is inserted in front of a poll agent. “There are checks on every level with videography and it is opened in front of agents of all parties. There is no scope for tampering.”
“Aisa nahi ho sakta ki jab pasand ka result na aaye tabhi galat hai [You can’t call the results wrong when they don’t favour you],” Kumar said, adding the Congress has filed 20 complaints against EVMs in Haryana poll. “We will respond to each…fact by fact. We will publish our response,” he said.
“It (EVM) has a single use battery which can be used for 5-7 days. It’s like a calculator battery. We have made a provision. It is initially marked as its 99 per cent and charged. It can differ based on difference of voltage. When it drops to 5.8%, it gives a signal that it is about to die,” said Mr Kumar underscoring that the system was fool proof, dismissing rumours that the machine can be hacked into.
The batteries are put on the day the machines (EVMs) are commissioned and not before, he said. “I have explained it many times. It will take time but let me explain again. Before 5-6 months of polls, checking begins. At every step of EVM process, political parties or their agents are present. We put a new battery and after sealing there are signatures of the agent. There’s a three-layer of security including CAPF and observers. The process is videographed. The EVM numbers are also shared. When polls are over, even then we take signatures. How much more can we show? On counting day, it goes inside barricading. There’s a provision for objecting to any of this at any stage which has not happened,” said the Chief Election Commissioner.
Earlier, Congress leader Pawan Khera had said the party had sent a list of 20 seats in which the candidates had submitted their written and verbal complaints over the EVM counting votes in the Haryana Assembly elections.
“We have sent a list of 20 seats to the Election Commission regarding which our candidates have submitted written and verbal complaints of 99 per cent battery charge. This issue was raised on the day of counting…This is a strange coincidence that the machines which displayed 99 per cent battery charge were the ones on which Congress was mostly made to lose. The machines with 60-70 per cent battery charge are the ones on which Congress won. Why did this happen?” Mr Khera had asked.
Mr Kumar also questioned the exit polls saying distortions happen as the expectations rise. “Electronic media must introspect on exit polls. My counting begins at 8:30 am and TV news shows leads at 8:05-8:10…Is it justify the exit polls? This mismatch between expectations and reality is leading to problems. The first round is complete around 9:30 am,” he said.