The ‘Quit EVM’ movement sees a massive presence of political parties and civil rights groups across the country, EVM Hatao Desh Bachao slogans reverberate on streets
“If the EVM has to be utilised in a way that even after a month or more of the voting, it has to be kept locked in strong rooms, then isn’t it better to conduct the polls through ballot paper? The point of using the EVM is to get the result faster but the implication of keeping the EVMs for months is that there is a possibility of tampering,” noted Hardik Patel, youth leader of the Patidar movement and member of the Indian National Congress (INC) in a program held in Delhi against the malfunctioning and several other issues related to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
Quit India Day, August 9 was marked as a day of protest to demand that EVMs Quit India. In 1942, on August 8 at an all India Congress Committee session in Bombay, the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India movement. The movement had demanded an end to the British rule. EVM VirodhiRashtriya Jan Andolan, a platform of various political parties and civil society groups, had highlighted earlier that there is a “threat” to Indian democracy by the use of EVMs.
EVM Bharat Chodo, DeshBachaoaurLoktantraBachao’ (EVM leave India, Save India, Save Democracy) slogans reverberated across the country in various cities including the national capital Delhi. On Wednesday, a press conference was organised by the EVMVirodhiRashtriya Jan Andolanat the Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi, in which the body decided to hold a protest march on August 9, the Quit India Movement Day, from Mandi House to JantarMantar. The protest, which started at 11.00 am on Friday, was attended by several EVM experts, activists and political leaders like AamAadmi Party (AAP) MP, Sanjay Singh, Danish Ali, INC’s Hardik Patel, CPI-ML’s DeepankarBhattacharjeeamong others.
The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, that gave a seemingly “massive mandate” to the party for the second time was not without several key questions being raised. Throughout the seven stage voting process, questions of not just the Election Commission’s partisan role but more specifically, EVM’s malfunctioning, being stored in not very secure locations, surfaced.
Incidents of massive Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) ‘malfunctions’ were reported in each of the seven phases of the elections. Citizens, society and several leaders among the opposition parties questioned the reliability and credibility of these machines throughout the election process.
Patel added, “Many people say that it’s a question on Loktantra that we are raising questions on EVMs, but in 2009, even SubramaniamSwamywent to court questioning EVMs.”
“On any polling date, day and night one sees the news that now the EVM has stopped working, but no one is asking questions or saying anything. And anyone who is raising questions is treated like a mad person. It’s said that they are against the country because they are raising questions on election results. But all the questions are valid. In the entire world, no country is using EVMs and our country is using it,” he said responding to the allegations that those raising questions about EVMs were “anti-national”.
CPI- ML’s Deepankar Bhattacharjee said, “First they refused to count [VVPAT], and after a bit of struggle, when they did count, around 2-3% of votes cast, we saw that EC didn’t answer the questions on this. The Election Commission didn’t answer us on the difference of more than 370 votes in the counting of VVPAT. This is why we feel that we can’t trust the EVMs.”
He expressed anger over the conspiratorial manner in which the government has been making key decisions. “Increasingly, we are seeing a government which wants to run the country on a conspiracy. This government’s method to function is through conspiracies, whether it’s demonetisation or how Article 370 was abrogated, all these issues which have been executed in the manner of conspiracy. So in the hands of such a government, which has weakened all the institutions right from EC to any other, we can’t trust this machine in such a situation,” he said.
Anjali Bhardwaj, associated with the Right to Information (RTI) movement said, “If I exercise my freedom of expression, there should be complete transparency. If I cast a vote to a party, then it should be visible and transparent to me that I have voted for that party. So our demand is that is completely related to the rights guaranteed to us by the constitution, it is associated with our rights to vote, our right to freedom of expression and our right for complete transparency…. So the results of the voting shouldn’t be compromised in any manner; that will be the biggest threat to our democracy, because if we can change the government without indulging in bloodshed, then that’s the biggest achievement [for a democracy]. And so, the fight against EVM is for the simple fact that people’s faith on this process should remain. If questions have been raised that when we cast our vote, the votes go to some other party, it will be completely wrong to ignore such questions.”
A letter to be submitted to the President on this issue was released. Protests also took place in cities across the country namely Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune etc.
Time and again, the movement has highlighted the following questions and concerns:
ECI claims EVM’s can’t be Hacked! But each of their claim on procedural sanctity and safeguard are turning out to be dubious, contradictory and false…
1) ECI has always claimed only government employees of BEL and ECIL handled EVM’S. But Private Contractors and Contract Employees used in 2019 General Elections for handling, uploading and repairing EVM’S and VVPATS!
2) First Level Check (FLCs) for EVMs are under way in election bound Maharashtra and Haryana. Political parties unaware about FLC’s being done. Why is ECI acting in secrecy?
3) ECI has always claimed the chip used in EVM’S has been One Time Programmable (OTP). However RTI replies from BEL have proved chip is rewritable.
4) How does ECI ensure safety of election process and EVM when private companies and individuals hired on contract are given to manage EVM’S? Whose accountability is it anyway?
#EVMBharatChodo!
#EVMHataoDeshBachao!