The AAP will approach EC to put up banners outside polling booths.
The Supreme Court of India has sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding pleas seeking verification of burnt memory and symbol loading units in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The court directed the ECI to refrain from erasing or reloading data during the verification process and to explain the procedure adopted for verification. The bench also expressed concerns over the high cost of verification and directed the ECI to reduce the fee. The court's directive comes following its previous judgement where it allowed aggrieved candidates to seek verification of EVMs.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
The Supreme Court on Friday said the plea seeking a policy for verification of electronic voting machines should go before the same bench that delivered a verdict in April rejecting the demand for bringing back the old paper ballots.
Dismissing Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal's apprehensions that electronic voting machines could be rigged to favour BJP in the Delhi Assembly polls, the Election Commission on Wednesday said the machines are "non-tamperable".
The Election Commission today said that Electronic Voting Machines cannot be tampered with, as alleged by some political parties, including the main Opposition party in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, and its ally, PMK.
The Election Commission told the AAP chief that tampering was not possible.
The opposition Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) conceded defeat in the elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats, accusing the election commission of 'facilitating' the victory of the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
The Congress has said the assembly polls results were "unexpected" and have alleged discrepancies in the EVMs in some seats.
In the backdrop of allegations by certain political parties that the Electronic Voting Machines could be hacked, the Election Commission on Thursday said EVMs were and are tamper proof.
The Patidar leader also urged the Congress to raise the issue of EVM tampering.
Top leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi, including Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar head Sharad Pawar along with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, will lead the Opposition's November 1 protest march in Mumbai against alleged irregularities in voters' lists.
'The fraud is the electronic voting machine is being manipulated by humans, and not counting the votes that is shown on VVPAT.'
Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Khanna said the court has rejected all the petitions, including those seeking resorting back to ballot papers in elections.
The NCP, along with other opposition parties, had repeatedly raised concerns over the possibility of EVM tampering.
The poll watchdog also said that as per laws related to elections, after the declaration of results, the only option available to verify the data of votes cast was filing an election petition before the high court concerned.
Arvind Kejriwal said that 20-25% of AAP's votes transferred to SAD-BJP.
The Election Commission has decided to replace 9,30,430 EVMs purchased before 2006 as the older machines are nearing their 15-year life cycle.
The BJP and Shiv Sena, which have claimed that EVMs can be tampered with, will make a presentation before the Election Commission to prove their contention.
'They can't be tampered with because of the very nature of the machines -- they are standalone, and not networked.' 'Also, they can't be rigged because of the kind of custodial security they are subjected to during the election process.'
Tiwari said on Amarinder's remark that when the latter was PCC president, he had himself demonstrated as to how the EVMs can be gerrymandered.
'EVMs did not accept votes polled for any party other than BJP'. The BSP chief said that the results in UP and Uttarakhand were surprising and not palatable to anyone.
It would be far more sensible for AAP to build on what they have achieved than to destroy what credibility they have by floating wild conspiracy theories, says Sankrant Sanu.
The review plea filed on May 10 said, "There are mistakes and errors apparent on the face of the impugned order..., and as such there are sufficient reasons which require review of the impugned order/judgment..."
Here is the detailed procedure of how the AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj 'tampered' an EVM.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it cannot 'control the elections' or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), as it reserved its judgment on a clutch of petitions claiming the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results.
As part of the investigation, EC officials visited Sudhakaran's residence on Thursday and recorded his statement. They said the matter would be submitted to the district collector for further actions.
The nodal officer for EVMs in Varanasi, a returning officer (RO) in Sonbhadra district and an additional election officer in Bareilly district have been pulled out from election duties, a day ahead of the counting of votes in UP.
Election Commission on Saturday invited petitioners before various courts as also political parties to prove if the Electronic Voting Machines can be tampered.
Underscoring the importance of voter satisfaction and trust in the electoral system, the Supreme Court on Thursday told petitioners who sought its direction to go back to using ballot papers not to suspect the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and appreciate if the Election Commission does good work.
The Lt Governor conveyed to the Delhi government that the rules will have to be amended for shunning the EVMs and it was not possible to make the changes as little over a month is left for the polls.
The party continued to allege tampering of the electronic voting machines for the verdict, and not a Modi wave, as claimed by the BJP.
"If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can be controlled from the earth, then why can't EVM be hacked," Udit Raj said in a tweet in Hindi. "If elections were held in America with EVMs, could Trump have lost," he asked.
Maharashtra Speaker Nana Patole on Tuesday said he has asked the state legislature to frame a law to give voters the option of using ballot papers besides electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the local governing bodies' and state assembly polls.
'For politicians, winning the next election has become more important than economic stability of the country and broader national interest.'
Speaking to ANI, Chaturvedi said, "If Devendra Fadnavis's name has been finalised, then announce it quickly; what is stopping you? Why are you depriving the people of Maharashtra of the promises made to them, why are you keeping them away and why are you ignoring the steering crisis of Maharashtra? They are so power hungry... it's been days since the election came and yet the results have not been announced."
In a statement, the EC said the presiding officer and three other officials have been placed under suspension.
The protesters, including AAP MLAs and newly appointed Delhi convener Gopal Rai, alleged that the manipulation of electronic voting machines was killing democracy.
Rejecting the contention of political parties like Bharatiya Janata Party, AIADMK and CPI(M) that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tampered with during the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla today said no one was able to prove it.
To counter the doubts over the machine's reliability, the Election Commission has come out with a list of FAQs to put across its views in public domain.
