Maharashtra collector admits to EVM ‘malfunction’ in RTI reply

India Samvad Bureau
New Delhi, July 23: An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) used during the Zilla Parishad elections in the month of February in Maharashtra reportedly recorded votes in favour of a BJP candidate when they were cast for an independent candidate.

According to the reports, On the day of polling, February 16th, Arun Zore, and her representatives filed a complaint after they objected to the LED light flashing for BJP candidate when votes were cast in her favour at a polling booth in Sultanpur.

A report signed by center in-charge Ramnarayan Sawant and election officer Manikrao Bazad said the complaint made by a voter at around 10:00 am was found to be without substance.

However, a similar complaint was made again at 1:30 PM and was found to be correct. This was brought to the notice of the Assistant Returning Officer, who visited the center and verified the complaint.

After the complaint was brought to the notice of the Assistant Returning Officer the machine was sealed and polling was restarted. The Buldhana district collector, in his letter to the State Election Commission, admitted that Zore’s complaint turned out to be true.

RTI activist Anil Galgali said, “Everytime the voter pressed a symbol of Coconut, allotted to a candidate, the LED lamp of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Lotus used to flash. This was reported to the District Collector by the Returning Officer (RO) in his inquiry report and furnished under an RTI query.”

The activist had filed a query on June 16 after getting the candidate’s complaint. The Buldhana collectorate’s election department replied that at polling station No.56 in Sultanpur of Lonar town, when the voter pressed the Independent candidate No. 1’s Coconut symbol, the LED lamp flashed against the BJP candidate No. 4’s Lotus symbol, signifying that the vote had gone to the latter.

An official from the Buldhana district collectorate denied charges of tampering. “This could be a technical fault,” he said. “On an average, there are 60 seats in a Zilla Parishad. The problem occurred on one machine in one center in a particular constituency. If there was deliberate tampering, similar complaints could have been reported from more machines in other centers.”

After the declaration of assembly poll results of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, some parties had raised concerns over the credibility of EVMs used by the EC and had alleged tampering of the machines during the elections.