Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar has cautioned the people against believing the claims on tampering of the electronic voting machines being made by a section of political parties.
The CEO, who inaugurated the stall of the State election authority at the ongoing All India Industrial Exhibition on Tuesday, recalled that some political parties in the State too lodged complaints about the tampering of the EVMs, but none of them have been proved. “Why did these parties, which raised concerns about the scope for tampering of the EVM not file election petitions?” he asked.
The CEO was reacting to the ongoing debate on the tampering of EVMs following the charges made by a former employee of the ECIL, the manufacturer of the EVMs. He said though 38 cases had been filed questioning the efficacy of the EVMs across the country, none had succeeded in proving their claims.
‘Baseless charges’
Describing the charge on scope for tampering of the EVMs as “baseless”, he said the the Supreme Court had given clarity about the efficacy of these machines on more than one occasion.
The Election Commission, on its part, had introduced the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines to usher in more transparency into the election process, but some political parties were insisting on returning to ballot paper system. “The demand is tantamount to rejection of latest technologies and is regressive,” he said.
Asserting that the EVMs and VVPATs would be utilised in the ensuing elections to Lok Sabha, he said the election authority would focus on educating the people about the efficacy of the machines and the transparency they would bring into the election process.