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Till now, nobody has been able to demonstrate whether Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be hacked or tampered with. Now the question is, can EVMs malfunction?
As we know, on polling day, ‘a mock poll demo’ is conducted on EVMs, in the presence of the polling agents of various candidates, to ensure that the EVMs are functioning properly. Experts say about 3-10% of EVMs fail on that polling day.
The data in The Quint’s possession will compel you to rethink – can we trust EVMs and all the accompanying processes?
The Election Commission (EC) had uploaded on its website two sets of data after the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls concluded on 28 November 2018.
The graphics below show the difference between the two data sets in the top 10 selected constituencies. The comparison between the data shows that the Assembly Constituency-wise discrepancies ranged from a maximum surplus of +2605 to maximum deficit of -1831.
Most of us are not aware of the process of vote counting. The Quint spoke to a couple of government employees who were deployed on election duty to find out exactly what happens.
On polling day, the Presiding Officer is in charge of the Control Unit attached to the ballot unit. The voter can vote only after the ballot button on the Control Unit is pressed by the Presiding Officer. On polling day, this is the procedure laid down:
The Quint contacted the Election Commission to find out the reason for the discrepancies in the number of votes counted on polling day and the number of votes counted on result day. In response, the EC said:
Maintaining that the first set of figures is unreliable, the EC dismissed the perceived discrepancy as “human error”.
An EVM expert, who had been a part of election duty, said on condition of anonymity:
While the EC’s website says,
The EC says that the EVM count of the result day should be taken as final count. But experts say that the Presiding Officers are more reliable because they submit the voter turnout figures every hour and submit a final figure at the end of polling.
Were the counting agents aware of the discrepancies in the EVM votes?
According to the EC, the first set of data was uploaded within 24 hours after the polling was over in the Madhya Pradesh.
Following the EC’s reply denying any discrepancy in the tallies, we sent them another set of questions. We asked:
Q1. The data shows that the numbers were divided into three sections – male, female and third gender, which means some amount of time was devoted to preparing it. Then how is it that in some constituencies, the discrepancy is over 2,500 votes, while in some it’s nil?
Q2. Why did the CEC upload incorrect data on their website? What was the rush?
The EC has not replied to these questions. It is not clear why the EC is maintaining opacity on a matter of such grave concern.
While the EC appears unconcerned with the huge discrepancy in the EVM vote count in MP, electoral experts say that there are carefully laid down procedures for counting the votes; wherever there is a discrepancy between the Presiding Officers’ figures of votes polled and the EVM count in any polling station, 100% of the VVPAT slips for that polling station must be counted, they said.
The difference in the numbers in the two sets of data is so glaring, yet the country’s election authority is brushing it under the rug by attributing it to a ‘quick count’ instead of ordering an inquiry.
We spoke to several former chief election commissioners, electoral and EVM experts but none of them could give a clear answer on what exactly has led to these discrepancies.
Rather, most of them were surprised and insisted that an investigation into the matter is needed.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)