Deeply concerned with the recent news reports of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) being transported in unauthorized trucks and EVMs being tampered, a group of historians, writers, activists and academicians, from across India, have released a press statement urging the political parties and the citizens to ensure the safety of EVMs.
Stating that though it is the Election Commission’s (EC) duty of ensuring free and fair election, but EC has been proved to be partial. Thus, they have appealed to the political parties and the ordinary citizens to ensure the safety of EVMs.
The statement reads:
“We request you to:
1. Guard the Strong Rooms round the clock
2. Do not allow any unauthorized EVMs to be brought into the strong rooms.
3. Report any suspicious activity immediately on social media
4. On the day of the counting the representatives of political parties must
a. Check that the EVMs are sealed before the counting begins
b. Check the Number of the EVM machine and tally it with the list of EVM machines in which voting was done in your particular booth.
5. Report to the media, party and local authorities and stop the process of declaration of result and demand re-polling.
We appeal to the security personnel, the law enforcement agencies to ensure that on May 23rd the counting passes off peacefully and no violence is tolerated.”
The statement also goes on to say that the appeal for bringing back the ballot system will resume after the new government is formed.
The statement has been signed by 40 people from different fields. Few of the signatories are: Ravi Kiran Jain (National President, PUCL), Syeda Hameed (writer, former member, Planning Commission of India, Delhi), Annie Raja (National General Secretary, NFIW, Delhi), Dev Desai (Social activist, Gujarat) among others.