No change in counting process, Opposition request on VVPAT rejected

The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected Opposition demand to tally the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips before the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) on counting day - May 23.

The confirmation of results, on Supreme Court's order, will be matched with the VVPAT slips of five randomly-selected EVMs per assembly segment.

On Tuesday, 22 Opposition parties Tuesday requested that VVPAT slips ought to be checked first, and in the event that any inconsistency happens, then VVPAT slips should be counted for the entire assembly segments. However, the EC today dismissed the update presented by the Opposition parties.

"We told the EC that the VVPAT machines ought to be checked first and on the off chance that there is any discrepancy, at that point every one of them in that portion ought to be counted. During elections, there were many EVMs which broke down and much of the time, when votes for one political party were cast, it showed votes for some other party, especially the BJP," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here after meeting EC officials.

"These things we have told the EC. We, in the last three-four years have been complaining about the EVMs in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and even in states," he included.

Leaders of these opposition parties, who held a meeting here on the issue and then jointly approached the EC, also raised concerns over reports about EVMs being "replaced" at various places.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha election took place from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes begins at 8 am on May 23.