A 3-member Election Commission panel has rejected the plea made by 22 opposition parties requesting that the verification of Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips of randomly identified polling stations should be done before the process of vote counting begins.
The leaders of 22 political parties had approached the Election Commission (EC) with a Memorandum on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The 22 parties mentioned in Memorandum that paper slips must be counted first and in case if there is any discrepancy with what is shown digitally on the machines, then all votes in the assembly segment of that parliamentary constituency should be cross-checked. This will make the process more transparent.
Speaking on the occasion, Congress Leader – Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “We told the EC that the VVPAT machines should be counted first and if there is any discrepancy, then all of them in that segment should be counted.”
However, the EC said that it will follow the established procedure of counting VVPAT slips for the mandatory 5 polling stations per assembly segment of each parliamentary constituency at the end of the entire counting process.
Responding to the doubts raised over EVMs, EC said that after the closure of polls, all the polled EVMs and VVPATs were brought under security cover to designated strongrooms, which are sealed with double locks in the presence of candidates and observers of the EC. It also said that this entire process has been recorded.
The EC assured that on the day of counting, the strongrooms will be opened in the presence of candidates or their agents and observers. Before counting starts, the counting agents will be shown the address tags, seals and serial number of EVMs so that the genuineness and authenticity of the machines used in the polls cannot be questioned.
A statement from EC said, “Continuous CCTV camera coverage is done till completion of counting. Each strongroom is guarded with round-the-clock security by Central Armed Police Forces. Further, candidates or their designated agents remain present at the strongroom for 24X7 vigil at all times.”
Besides, with few hours left to the counting, the EC has given final touch to the counting process across India. There are around 1,600 counting observers to monitor counting of 22.3 lakh ballot units. Also, there are 16.3 lakh control units and 17.3 lakh VVPATs.
The results will be declared tomorrow, Thursday, May 23, 2019.
