Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress legislator and former minister HK Patil has claimed that "over 19 lakh EVMs have gone missing between 2016 and 2018" even as Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said he would summon officials from the Election Commission (EC) of India to respond to the allegations.
Patil made the startling allegations during a special debate on electoral reforms in the Assembly on Tuesday. While many other members expressed their views on corruption and electoral irregularities in the system, Patil said there are a "lot of doubts about EVMs" while alleging that the Election Commission had made "no attempt to alleviate this suspicion. The number of missing EVMs is shocking."
"The EC has to respond to these charges. How can anyone rule out the possibility of these missing EVMs being misused? If the EC does not respond to questions on what has happened to these EVMs, our suspicion on EVM malpractice will only grow stronger," the Congressman added.
"Some doubts have been haunting everyone since the voting began through EVM. The Election Commission and the government need to clarify these doubts." He said no clarifications had been made so far. Reacting to Patil's allegations, speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said he will seek a clarification from the Congress leader "on what grounds he said it." I will write a letter to the Election Commission on this," the Speaker said. Meanwhile, speaking on the matter, former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy said the "electoral system has deteriorated". People and parties are responsible for this," he said.
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