Gujarat Assembly polls: State Congress moves Supreme Court, wants EC to tally VVPATs of at least 25% votes in election

The Gujarat unit of the Congress has moved the Supreme Court seeking its intervention in counting of votes for Gujarat Assembly election. Congress, raising doubts over the veracity of EVMs, is seeking the apex court's direction to the Election Commission to tally at least 25 percent of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with the EVM votes. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter at 2 pm on Friday. Congress leaders and senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi are likely to argue for their party in the top court.

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The Gujarat unit of the party raised concerns over allegations of EVM tampering but the Election Commission had rejected the charges. According to several reports, there were complaints of Bluetooth devices being connected to EVMs. Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia had complained that three EVMs were seen connected to Bluetooth devices and he sent the complaint to the ECI along with screenshots backing his complaint.

Responding to the allegations, the Election Commission had said they were looking into the complaints. A team of Election Commission visited a polling booth in Thakkar Plot in Porbandar to find out if there was some malfunctioning.

The BJP, however, had maintained that the allegations by Congress showed they were in "search for an excuse" as it knew that it would bite dust in the election.

For many Muslim voters in Gujarat, if there is an issue of concern in the coming Assembly election, it is the EVM. EVM — described as the "devil" by one worried voter — was the hot topic of discussion among the people, who, however, said they would vote in the December 14 election in the state, despite their concerns.

With the circulation of messages on social media sites about EVMs being tampered with, many in the border district of Chhota Udaipur feared their votes might be transferred to other candidates.

“Our vote is the only power we have and if somebody changes it, what are we left with in a democracy,” asked 57-year-old Sayed Mala, a small-time construction contractor.

Educated sections of the people, with access to social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook, were more worried about EVMs than the others. "I know who I will vote for. But I am not assured if it will be counted in his favour. But with a ballot paper, my vote can’t be changed,” said Kalol college student Sultan Hussain.

Another constituent said he was not convinced about the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), a process to verify that the vote cast had gone to the candidate concerned. Farooq Sayeed from Timla village in Chhota Udaipur compared EVMs with the “devil”. "There are so many videos of EVMs being tampered with on social media. My vote can be changed," he said.

The worries about the machines were not largely shared by Hindu voters. Narendra Sinh Bari, a 38-year-old man who runs a mobile shop, said any method could trigger doubts. "We should trust the machines," he said.