The opposition parties in India have always been questioning the Electronic Voting Machines’ credibility.
Tag: Electronic Voting Machines
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Bengal CEO asks officials to check EVMs in vacant assembly seats
By PTI
KOLKATA: The Chief Election Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, Aariz Aftab, has directed officials to conduct checking of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in seven assembly seats that are lying vacant due to deaths of candidates or resignation of MLAs, an official said on Saturday.Aftab’s order was issued on Friday, a day after a Trinamool Congress parliamentary party delegation met the Election Commission in Delhi to press for its demand for holding by-polls to the vacant assembly seats in the state at the earliest.
The TMC is keen on the bypolls as party supremo Mamata Banerjee, who lost the assembly election from Nandigram, will have to get elected within six months to continue as the chief minister.
In that case, the bypolls must be conducted by November 5.
“The CEO has written to the district election officers (DEOs) of Cooch Behar, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Kolkata Dakshin to start the first-level checking of the EVMs & VVPATs before the by-elections due there are held,” the official told PTI.
The DEOs have been instructed to conduct the checking between August 3 and 6 strictly following Covid-19 protocols,” the official said.
The bypolls are due in the constituencies of Bhabanipur, Khardah, Gosaba, Shantipur, Jangipur, Samserganj and Dinhata.
Banerjee is expected to file nomination from Bhabanipur in Kolkata, which was vacated by winning TMC candidate Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, days after the results were declared.
Chattopadhyay is slated to contest the by-election from Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, which fell vacant after the TMC’s Kajal Sinha succumbed to COVID-19.
At Gosaba seat in South 24 Parganas, TMC MLA Jayanta Naskar also died of COVID-related complications last month.
At Dinhata in Cooch Behar district and Santipur in Nadia district, the winning BJP nominees quit as MLAs as they wanted to retain their parliamentary berths.
Polls were countermanded in Jangipur and Samserganj, both in Murshidabad district, following the death of candidates due to the viral disease.
“As no polling was held in Murshidabad district, there is no need to check the EVMs and VVPATs there,” the officer said.
In a memorandum submitted to the Election Commission on Thursday, the TMC stated that with the decreasing number of coronavirus cases in the state, conditions are conducive for conducting the bypolls with Covid appropriate protocols in place.
The Election Commission said on Friday said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.
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Bihar Panchayat elections through EVMs despite Opposition protests
Express News Service
PATNA: Amid the growing momentum for the panchayat elections, the state government in Biharhas approved the fund and proposal to conduct the wards elections in 10 phases using EVMs. The elections are due to be held April-May and the induction of EVMs for the elections are being opposed by the non-NDA parties fearing manipulation of results.The principal opposition party in the state RJD vehemently opposed the use of EVMs in the local body elections terming them not foolproof in ensuring fair elections. However, the dates of the Panchayat elections have not been announced but the election commission has released the guidelines.
Meanwhile, official sources said that the state government has already allotted a huge fund of Rs 122 for the purchase 90,000 EVM machines and conduct the panchayat elections in a fair and peaceful manner.
Official sources added that more than 90,000 new EVM machines will be purchased from the reputed company for the Panchayat elections in which the NDA allies are planning to put up their party-associated candidates for various posts.
Meanwhile, the BJP has asked the workers and leaders at district levels to start taking the works done by the NDA government to the people.
According to the guidelines, voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm. At the same time, after the completion of the voting of all the stages, the counting of votes will be started from eight o’clock in the morning on the fixed date.
The Panchayat elections will be held for electing 8,387 elected panchayat heads, who are colloquially called here ‘Mukhiya”, members to 1,14,667 wards,1161 district board and others posts including the “surpanchas”( panchayat judicial heads) and their associates. The elections will be conducted amid the tight security arrangements in 45,103 village-based polling booths through the EVMs.
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Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea seeking to stop use of EVMs
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a direction to the poll panel to stop using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections by asking that the high court should be approached first.A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was hearing the plea which said that voting through ballot papers was a more ‘reliable and transparent’ method for the electoral process.
During the brief hearing, the court got irked when it was argued that the right to vote was a fundamental right and the continuous use of EVMs in polls by the Election Commission infringes this right.
“From where you get this that voting right is a fundamental right,” the bench said and asked the lawyer to withdraw the PIL.
“After some arguments, the petitioner prays for withdrawal of this petition with liberty to approach the appropriate High Court. Prayer is allowed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty aforesaid,” ordered the bench, which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The plea filed by Kanyakumari-based advocate C R Jaya Sukin, had said that several developed countries like the US, Japan, Germany, and others have rejected EVMs during elections, and have chosen the ballot system of voting and this should indicate that EVMs are not satisfactory instruments to be used for the electoral process of a country.
EVMs can be hacked.
But the ballot system is extremely safe, it had said.
“EVM hacking is a threat that has been given not only in India but in many other countries, which is why several of them have banned it. EVMs, like all other machines, are prone to errors and malfunctioning. No machine ever made anywhere in the world is infallible,” the lawyer had claimed.