New Delhi: The apprehensions which had been expressed by Aam Aadmi Party national convener and former CM of Arvind Kejriwal had been dismissed by Election Commission on Wednesday.
AAP’s chief Arvind Kejriwal had expressed that certain electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been “tampered” with to favor BJP in the 7 February Delhi Assembly polls.
Notify that Kejriwal had met top EC officials on Tuesday and explained the “factual position” in detail that there was no tampering with the machines’ software which could result in tampering.
EC sources said that he was explained that locks of three ‘control units’ and four ‘ballot units’ were broken apparently during transportation and the units were replaced in the presence of general observers. An AAP representative had later signed a document which detailed the facts.
Sources said that he was told that the faults were basically ‘mechanical’ in nature.
The sources said the machines which Kejriwal referred to belong to the post-2006 batch which have “very little” scope of tampering.
After meeting with EC officials, Kejriwal said, “The Election Commission has cleared all our doubts about the EVM machine issue. They said that EVMs used are latest and tamper-proof. They are all double checked.”
Officials had assured Kejriwal that the EVMs and control units pass through several stages of checks before being finally used for actual voting. They also assured him that just before the actual polling, a mock poll is also carried out where faulty machines are replaced. Apprehensions of party representatives about EVMs are also taken note of during such mock polls.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal claimed that discrepancies were found during an inspection of four such machines at Delhi Cantonment area. He alleged that whatever button was pressed on the machines, the light against the BJP symbol lit up.
AAP leaders had also approached the poll body last week to know the procedure if a voter finds such a discrepancy in an EVM.
Bureau Report
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