Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi appeals to the Election Commission of India for an enquiry into the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering case and if need be for a re-conduct the Lok Sabha election 2019.
As the EVM tampering issue being reported in the various part of the country, on 7th June 2019 Prakash Ambedkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader, alleged that there has been discrepancies founded in votes counted and votes casted all the 48 constituencies of Maharashtra. At a press conference Mr Ambedkar said that in 26 parliamentary constituencies, votes counted on 23rd May 2019 found to be less than the declared number of votes casted and among these constituencies Raigad had the least difference in the figures (16), while Parbhani has the highest difference of 2,101. Whereas in the rest 22 constituencies of Maharashtra the number of the votes counted were more than the votes casted in which Wardha has the highest difference (1,380), while Raver has the least difference: 8.
As part of the election process the Election Commission had appointed a Returning Officer in each constituencies in the state of Maharashtra who declared how many votes are casted at each polling booth on the day of polling and the total votes polled in each constituency which was reported to the Chief Election Commission. And it is the first time that a discrepancy has been found in this tally in such a high number of constituencies. Many political parties has long been appealing to the election commission of India regarding the issues of EVM tampering and the need to count all the paper slips generated by the VVPAT machine in each constituencies to ensure a fair election in the country. But the election commission had just simply turned down their demands. At this point the political parties went to the Supreme Court to seek justice for the same issue. The judgment was that five booths from each constituencies will be counted which was again not satisfactory. In this context, facts Mr Ambedkar has released in the press conference adds to the cases of EVM tampering raising more eyebrows. Mr Ambedkar has appealed to all the citizens to take a step on this issue as it is a process which concerns whole of Indian population and it is they who should decide whether they require EVM machines anymore to elect their representatives. In this backdrop Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi demands to the population everyone should resort back to the ballot paper which is followed by many other democratic countries.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has appealed to the election commission of India seeking explanation to this discrepancy as to why such a fault has taken place in such a large scale. The organisation has also appealed to all political parties in the nation to check for such issues if they have occurred in their respective constituencies and has requested all of them to file cases in High courts of respective states if there is found to be any such discrepancies. Now that the election is over, Mr Prakash Ambedkar believes that judiciary would be the last resort which has the power to invalidate the Lok Sabha election if it is found to be illegal on the grounds mentioned in the People’s Representation Act.
It is high time that the election commission of India to probe into this matter and reassess their own statement that EVMs cannot be tampered. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi believes that being a constitutional and independent body, the election commission of India can itself take up this case to the Supreme Court on the grounds of rising concerns over tampering the EVM which has proven their statement wrong. That they could also request the Supreme court to re-conduct the elections for such concerns raise questions on the validity of the present government and the citizens of India should have a fair election and fairly elected government at the centre.