The Wire: Mumbai: Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
The
information was obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI) by activist
Anil Gagali, and recently blew the lid on how the polling officers initially
did not act on the complaint of the voters, that a light was flashing against
the name of the BJP candidate whenever they pressed the button in support of
the independent candidate.
This issue
has again given rise to speculation that electronic voting machines (EVMs) are
being tampered to benefit the BJP candidates across the country. Incidentally,
the issue had first been raised by Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati after
the announcement of assembly election results to five states in March this
year. Subsequently, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had also expressed similar
doubts about voting in Punjab and Goa. Later, his party had even organised a
display in Delhi Assembly of how EVMs can be tampered.
The Election
Commission of India (ECI) had responded to the complaints by inviting all the
parties who had approached it and those which had participated in the assembly
polls to an EVM challenge, where, however, due to the restrictions imposed by
the ECI the parties that participated were not able to prove any tampering. The
ECI had also noted in connection with complaints about EVM malfunction in a
municipal poll in Maharashtra then that these elections are conducted by SECs
which are not under it.
In the
present case too, The Wire had asked the ECI spokesperson how it was viewing
the Sultanpur polling station case and if the state commission has submitted
any report to it in the matter, but the ECI chose not to reply.
Incidentally,
the “malfunction” in the Sultanpur machine had taken place in the polls before
the EVM issue had heated up in March. Galgali, however, insisted that it is not
a case of malfunction but EVM fraud.
He said the
Buldhana collectorate’s election department had in its reply to his query
stated that the complaints was received from polling station no. 56 in
Sultanpur of Lonar town that when the voter pressed the button next to
independent candidate’s coconut symbol at number 1, the LED lamp flashed
against the button of BJP candidate’s lotus symbol which was at number 4,
indicating that the vote had gone to the latter.
The
department admitted that while the first complaint was received around 10 am,
it was ignored by the election officer on duty. It was only subsequently when
more voters complaints that the election officer took cognisance around 1-30 pm
and then took up the matter with the polling agents of all the parties. The
officer, Manikrao Baazad, then obtained their consent before inspecting the
machines.
Thereafter
the booth in-charge also looked into the matter and brought the issue to the
notice of the area returning officer. The matter was then verified by the
assistant returning officer who visited the booth and the election was
subsequently cancelled and a report was sent to the collector. The EVM in
question was sealed and a standby unit was put in operation. A repoll was
subsequently conducted on February 21 at the booth.
When The Wire
spoke to Assistant Commissioner Avinash Sanas about the developments, he said
the issue has come into the limelight despite a repoll having been conducted at
the booth. But the officer could not explain why the “malfunction”, even if
there was one, was not probed thoroughly especially in the wake of the huge
uproar the issue of alleged EVM tampering had subsequently created at the
national level.
Should the
Maharashtra SEC not brought this issue to the notice of the ECI considering its
significance in the light of allegations being levelled by the opposition
parties and the Commission’s efforts to answer their concerns.
But for
Galgali’s painstaking effort, perhaps the issue would got lost just the way the
votes to the independent candidate were going.
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