Voting through EVM and VVPAT machines is considered safe and reliable but several cases regarding malfunctioning have come up recently have raised a question on its safety. There have been around 865 cases of replacing the ballot unit, the control unit of EVM and VVPAT machines due to technical glitches in 46 seats in the Marathwada region.
Among the several incidents of EVM’s malfunctioning across Maharashtra, Satara’s case is the latest. In Satara, all the votes went to the ruling party BJP no matter which button you press. Shockingly! These serious allegations have been acknowledged by election commission officials as well. Was it malfunction issue or EVM has tampered?
The incident came to notice after around 200 people already voted, out of which some candidates from Navlewadi village of Koregaon constituency voted for other candidates. But the VVPAT slip shows they voted for BJP. After following this, the villagers informed the officials about the same.
When the officials didn’t pay attention to it, the police had to take the charge. The machines were checked and the claim was found true. Soon the faulty machine was replaced by a new one. If BJP could make one machine working for them, can’t they do the same with the other one?
The voting was being held for assembly as well as Lok Sabha by-poll after Udayanraje Bhosale quit the NCP and joined BJP after resigning from his post.
Maharashtra State Youth Congress chief Satyajeet Tambe said, “In fact, people are so furious & angry, they feel there is a serious possibility of EVM tampering. People are so angry that I fear it might create a law & order situation in the state. Election Commission should take care of and watch this closely.”
Security checks before the voting commence
Before starting the actual poll, a Mock poll with at least 50 polls is done in the presence of polling agents tallied with the electronic result stored in the CU to fully satisfy the polling agents to satisfy them that the result shown is strictly according to the choice recorded by them. The presiding officer will delete all the Mock polls before commencing the actual poll. After that, the Control unit is sealed.
Still, there are so many cases for malfunctioning or you can say ’Tampering’?
Another relevant incident took place in the Durgapur area in Ballarpur from where Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is contesting. Two people were caught carrying the voting machines in private vehicles in Chandrapur. However, the district collector said that the machine was not used during voting but was from the reserve stock. Is a common man allowed to take voting machines on a ride in his private vehicle?
Many times, private vehicles have been identified entering the strong room where EVM’s are kept after voting is done and no action was taken. These are a part of a well-planned conspiracy to win the elections.
Considering all the above instances, NCP leader Kiran Gujar — who is heading Ajit Pawar’s campaign has written a letter to the officer to permit installation of CCTVs , jammers and deployment of private security guards at the strong room where EVM;s supposed to be kept three nights before the day of counting on 24th Oct.
The corruption is at its peak. Dirty politics has entered at election level too. In spite of strict rules, cases of tampering are taking place in the name of malfunctioning.