Ahead of counting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, leaders of 22 Opposition parties met the Election Commission on Tuesday, 21 May, and asked it to ensure transparency and fairness in the counting process by verifying EVM results with VVPATs.
The Opposition leaders, including from the Congress, the DMK, the TDP and the BSP, submitted a memorandum to the poll panel, demanding the tallying of votes of electronic voting machines with a paper trail of votes (VVPATs) of five randomly identified polling booths in an Assembly segment before counting begins on Thursday, 23 May.
“We raised these same issues in last one and a half months. We asked EC why they have not responded. Strangely, EC heard us for almost an hour and they assured us they’ll meet again tomorrow morning to consider primarily these two issues.”Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, as quoted by ANI
Demanding fairness in elections, the leaders of the 22 parties who signed the memorandum said they represent the voice of 70 percent of the electorate of the country.
They said they reached out to the Election Commission in January 2019 to increase VVPAT slips counting to 100 percent or revert to the old paper ballot system.
"We told the EC that VVPAT machines should be counted first and if there is any discrepancy, then all of them in that segment should be counted," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in New Delhi after meeting the poll panel.
The poll body has now said it will meet on Wednesday, 22 May to discuss the issue, added Azad’s party colleague Abhishek Singhvi.
"We are asking the EC to respect the mandate of people. It cannot be manipulated," Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu told reporters.
A few days back, the SC had asked the EC to tally the VVPAT slips with the EVM figures of five polling stations in each Assembly constituency across the country, which may delay the results.
Before meeting the EC, the leaders had met at the Constitution Club in the national capital to discuss the issue. The Opposition leaders also reportedly discussed the possibility of a non-NDA alliance staking claim to form government in the national capital.
Naidu, Azad, Kejriwal and Derek O’Brien Attend Meet
Those who attended the meeting included Congress' Azad, Singhvi, Ahmed Patel and Ashok Gehlot, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), CPI-M's Sitaram Yechuri and T K Rangarajan, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), NCP's Praful Patel and Majeed Memon (NCP) and DMK's K Kanimozhi.
Trinamool Congress' Derek O'Brien, RJD's Manoj Jha, CPI's S Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, LJD's Javed Razawa, NC's Devender Rana and JD-S' Kupendra Reddy were also among those present.
However, Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy had cancelled his scheduled visit to Delhi, he was expected to take part in the meeting, official sources said.
“On VVPATs and the EVM tally, the EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch. Even if there is one mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process, all VVPATs in that Assembly segment must be counted.Sitaram Yechury was quoted as saying by PTI
NCP's Majid Memon said the parties are demanding that "there should be fairness in the counting of votes".
On EVM Glitches
Alleging large-scale EVM bungling in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra demanded the deployment of central forces.
The Opposition parties also raised concerns over the transportation of EVMs ahead of counting of votes and urged the Election Commission to probe the issue.
In a related development, the apex court on Tuesday had dismissed a PIL seeking 100 percent matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs during the vote counting on 23 May.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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