New Delhi: The Congress on Friday urged the Centre and the Election Commission to clarify reports that as many as 6.5 lakh faulty VVPAT machines have been used in the 2019 national and subsequent state polls. “A total of 17.5 lakh VVPAT machines were purchased by the Election Commission in 2018. As many as 37 per cent of them were found to be defective in 2021 after which the Election Commission wrote to the manufacturers. These machines were of the latest type and were used in the 2019 Lok Sabha and subsequent assembly polls. These VVPAT machines were meant to strengthen voter confidence in the EVMs and the electoral process. We urge the PM, the Central government and the Election Commission to clarify any doubts related to such machines,” Congress media head Pawan Khera said.
The three companies from which the Election Commission had purchased the faulty VVPAT machines are ECIL, Hyderabad, four lakhs, BEL, Bengaluru, 1.8 lakhs and BEL, Panchkula, 68,500. According to Khera, all the 6.5 lakhs faulty VVPAT machines, which provide a paper trail of the votes polled using an Electronic Voting Machine, were of the same series and this fact cannot be ignored.
“The Election Commission should explain the fault to the political parties and the voters. As per a standard operating procedure, within seven days of purchase the poll officer is supposed to send the machines for repair if found faulty,” said Khera, adding “Why such a long time allowed to lapse and the same faulty machines used in various polls since 2019.”
“The government and the EC should provide details on how many of such faulty VVPAT machines were used in which state poll. The government should call the political parties and take them into confidence over the issue,” he said. According to the Congress leader, the grand old party has been raising concerns over faulty EVMs and VVPAT for a long. Two weeks ago, NCP leader Sharad Pawar chaired a meeting of around 14 opposition parties in Delhi to discuss the issue of faulty EVMs. Before that, some civil society groups had also petitioned the Election Commission to look into the issue of EVMs.
The Congress, too, had reviewed the EVMs, along with some experts. Later, party veteran Digvijay Singh said that the EVMs run on software, which can be tampered with externally. The party had also opposed an Election Commission proposal of remote voting machines for the migrant workers saying the process to assess their numbers was doubtful.
“Usually, the BJP attacks us saying that when the Congress wins an election there is no fault with the EVMs, but the party cries foul when it loses a poll. Should we stop raising a concern only because we have won in a state? We have flagged the matter of transparency in polls for a long time,” said Khera.
“The government and the Election Commission must remove any doubts in the minds of the voters about the EVMs and the VVPAT. The government should be responsive to the concerns of the opposition parties and not dismiss them. The voter's confidence in the electoral process is the most important thing in a democracy,” he added.
