Agitated members of opposition political parties protested outside a polling booth in Meerut for several hours on Wednesday after a voter realized that though he had pressed the button for BSP candidate, the EVM registered a vote for the candidate of the ruling BJP party.

Although officials replaced the faulty machine claiming it was a case of machine malfunction, the opposition parties alleged tampering of the EVMs. “We replaced the machine which was malfunctioning immediately”, additional district magistrate of Meerut city told the Times of India.

A video of a voter, Tasleem Ahmed unsuccessfully trying to cast his vote for the BSP went viral on the social media. “I voted for BSP candidate. I am still holding the pressed button. The machine has recorded my vote as having gone to BJP. I’ve been waiting here for an hour but no solution has been found so far,” Ahmed can be heard saying in the video. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leader, Mayawati, who has been campaigning against tampering of EVM machines since the Assembly polls in UP in March, has threatened to petition the court over the fresh incident of alleged tampering.

Meanwhile, the Urdu dailies Rashtriya Sahara and Inquilab have reported widespread protests in Kanpur city where again voters from many booths alleged that irrespective of the button they pressed, the vote went to the BJP.  The police resorted to lathi charge in some places to disperse the agitated crowds. Voters from polling booth number 58 in the Chekeri area of Kanpur who went to cast their votes alleged that irrespective of the button they pressed the machine registered a vote for the candidate with the BJP’s lotus symbol.

The voters also alleged that despite their complaint the voting was continuing. The Rashtriya Sahara reports that after a complaint was lodged with the polling officer the EVM machine was replaced.

Inquilab reported protests outside several booths in Kanpur city, following which polling officers had to replace the voting machines (EVMs). Booth number 978 in the Govind Nagar assembly segment was one place where irrespective of the buttons pressed the machines were registering all the votes in favour of “a particular party”. 

It was the same story at booth number 104 too. According to the Inquilab, EVMs had to be replaced at a total of 102 booths in Kanpur because of complaints.
 
The first phase of voting for civic polls was held in part of UP on Wednesday.  
 

The post Press any button, vote goes to BJP: Furore in UP over “faulty” EVM machines in Meerut, Kanpur civic polls appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Meanwhile the Election Commission did not actually conduct the hackathon it promised last Saturday, June 3, as there were
no takers from the political parties. While the Aam Admi Party (AAP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) wrote in to
the EC objecting to the limited framework that the hackathon was being conducted in, the two parties CPI(M) and NCP
that registered, did not take part in the actual hacking of the machine citing one reason or the other. The EC on its part has now said
that the issue of EVMs and their one hundred per cent security, is now closed.

Today, June 6, an additional collector from Goa, Sabaji Shetye, was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Goa as he was caught
red handed taking a bribe of Rs. 25,000/- as advance towards sanctioning an explosive storage licence. There would be nothing unsual in this news
per se except that this man had been the Returning officer for the 2015 by-elections for the prestigious Panjim assembly constituency.

That election was held because the seat was vacated by the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar when he resigned to go to Delhi to join the
Central Cabinet to become the Defense Minister. The election was won with overwhelming majority by the BJP.

Those were the days when no one ever questioned the functioning of the EVM. Though there were doubts, people
were probably just learning about how the machines operated and were not confident of making statements about the
EVMs and their functioning with any certainty.

The EC, on its par,  has made statements saying EVMs are safe and that internal parts  in EVM  cannot be changed or manipulated as there
are administrative safeguards. However, they have not specified these administrative safeguards actually are.

As of now, it is not clear what due diligence tests the EC conducts so that a critical position such as that of a Returning officer is filled by
a person of integrity, a must to ensure free and fair elections.But now that an ex-RO has been caught red handed taking bribe, serious questions
arise.

Isn't it necessary to check and investigate all previous assignments of this ex-RO to ensure that he did not indulge in any hanky panky (read
corrupt practices) before?

And if a person of suspicious credentials is made RO, would EC's administrative safeguards not get undermined? Given the high level of corruption in
India and the huge stakes in the Indian elections, the EVM should be tamper proof and even if the most corrupt of guys tries any stunt, there ought to be
enough checks and balances there so that he cannot get away with tampering.

Today's arrest of an ex-RO raises serious questions that the EC would be compelled to answer.

Related Articles:

1. Election Commission transfers returning officer after complaint from Nationalist Student Congress
2. AAP shows live demonstration of EVM fraud in Delhi assembly
 

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