Representatives of 22 Opposition political parties met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Tuesday seeking transparency in the counting procedure. Counting will take place on May 23.
The Opposition leaders requested the CEC that five VVPATs (Voter Verified Paper Trail Machines) from an Assembly seat should be checked first and if something suspicious was noticed, then the entire lot of VVPATs were to be counted. According to the current plan, the EVMs are to be counted first, but the Opposition parties have expressed their doubts and suspicion on the matter.
The Opposition parties included Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, CPIM’s Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien among others.
The leaders said that the CEC had assured them he would look at the appeal with an open mind. The CEC is to meet the leaders on the matter again tomorrow.
Allegations of EVM tampering or being transported in private vehicles in several parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab were reported this morning in different video clips, shot by individuals. These videos raised fresh concerns among the Opposition parties about the EVM transparency, just two days ahead of the counting on May 23.
Samjadwadi Party supporters in UP’s Chandauli shot a video of EVMs being off-loaded, and questioned why it was being done a day after polling and not immediately. However, the administration said that these were reserve EVMs.
Several other similar videos have also emerged from elsewhere. But the Election Commission said these allegations were “frivolous” and that the EVMs had all gone through proper security.
In Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav tweeted questioning why these videos were showing EVM movement in various parts of north India now. He appealed to the EC to issue a statement.
