A multi-functional facility, equipped with 36 specially designed vaults for storage of Electronic Voting Machines and VVPATs, was on Friday inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra in Delhi, officials said.
Till date, 107 elections to states and three parliamentary polls have been smoothly conducted using the EVMs.
Allaying all doubts on the possibility of Electronic Voting Machine tampering, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla on Tuesday said the machines used in India are stand-alone machines and cannot be manipulated.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has asserted the integrity of India's electoral process, stating that no discrepancies have been found between the votes counted on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Addressing concerns about mismatches in polling figures, Kumar attributed the issue to limitations in the data reported by the Voter Turnout Reporting (VTR) app, which excludes postal ballot votes. He emphasized the robust mechanisms in place to ensure accuracy, including reconciliation of every vote with Form 17C and thorough review of any minor errors. Kumar highlighted that the Election Commission rigorously follows guidelines for all aspects of the electoral process, including electoral rolls and machine handling.
To clear doubts over EVMs, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi will soon call all-party meet.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari on Friday said his party was not against Electronic Voting Machines or the use of technology in elections, but wanted paper back-up, as it had not been proved conclusively that EVMs were tamper-proof. Gadkari insisted that reservations about EVMs were not confined to the BJP alone and many other political parties, including the Orissa unit of the Congress, were wary of its use."The system should be modernised," Gadkari said.
'There is a difference between a politician and leader.' 'A politician will have his pound of flesh first and do everything else later.' 'A leader will sacrifice everything to help people.'
Mann said there was no use in finding fault with EVMs and the party should introspect on the reasons behind its defeat.
The challenge would be held in the first week of May and could continue for ten days.
"We had not contemplated that the alliance will fare so badly. People are not able to digest the poll results. It is against their sentiment and aspirations," Mayawati said on Thursday.
The AAP has announced that it will hold a parallel hackathon of its own.
The EC again rubbished the Aam Aadmi Party's claim that EVMs could be tampered with
The EC has time and again rubbished allegations that EVMs can be programmed to favour any particular party.
The tallying of VVPAT slips with the votes cast and stored in the EVMs will be done to demonstrate that the voting system has been working perfectly.
While the CPI-M delegation watched a demonstration on the various security checks involved with the machines, the NCP team interacted with Commission's technical committee of experts.
The action was taken upon a plea filed by Congress Vikasnagar runner-up candidate Navprabhat on alleged tampering of electronic voting machines.
He, however, did not give any date for the proposed challenge which he announced in his opening remarks at the meeting.
The Sikkim Democratic Front got 15 seats in the hill state, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, which came into being in 2013, bagged 17 seats, one more than required for a majority in the 32-member assembly.
The Election Commission sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, where a bypoll is due on April 9.
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
Political parties on Monday said that the Election Commission should take steps to enhance the confidence of people on use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in polls in view of apprehensions that they could be tampered with.
The poll panel had ordered for 67,000 additional paper trail units in 2015, out of which 33,500 have been supplied, according to the law ministry.
Electronic Voting Machines have become 'Electronic Victory Machines' for the Congress in the elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged on Thursday, as it trailed in the Maharashtra and Haryana polls. "The EVMs have become 'Electronic Victory Machines' for the Congress in the elections," rued BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Naqvi said these elections were conducted with EVMs despite many political parties expressing their concerns.
'Although the Election Commission remains convinced about the EVM's integrity, as a fair umpire of the game it was necessary to travel the last mile to convince political players that the entire process was not only fair but transparently so.' A fascinating excerpt from former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla's new book, Excerpted from Every Vote Counts: The Story Of India's Elections.
EVM -- described as the "devil" by one worried voter -- was the hot topic of discussion among the people
A group of IT experts from US have claimed that the Indian EVMs are not tamper-proof and asked the Election Commission to explore other forms of voting that provide "transparency" and security.
NSUI demanded re-election with paper ballot while the EC said the EVMs used were not provided by it.
Against the backdrop of some opposition parties raising doubts about the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS), the Election Commission on Friday said no party has been able to prove that the machine could be tampered with.
Ramesh said the local leadership and admitted there were shortcomings in the party's campaign there.
'How come the BJP won even in the Muslim belt? I am 100% sure that the BJP would not win in the Muslim belt.'
The date of the proposed challenge, an official said, would be decided after the all-party meeting.
The EC announced on Friday evening that out of eight parties only Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the CPI-M accepted the dare. Friday was the last date to enlist for the challenge.
Alex Halderman and Rop Gonggrijp, two of the three scientists who had exposed the flaws in the Election Commission's EVMs, flew in to New Delhi around 2 am on Monday and were detained immediately. After a harrowing wait for hours, the duo was let off in the evening.
Hindu temples are also coming up in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, the prime minister told the gathering.
The arrest of Hariprasad has come as a major set back for all those activists who are on a mission to prove that the Electronic Voting Machine can be tampered with. Hari Prasad, the technical coordinator of VeTA (Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Elections), was arrested from Hyderabad on Saturday in connection with the theft of an EVM from Mumbai.
Whatever happens with this election, there is going to have to be a serious rethink of how the ECI, and elections, are run in India. There can't even be the whiff of impropriety. In a country that believes in democracy, EVM rigging isn't stealing an election, it's stealing the soul of a nation, says Cleo Paskal.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to take up for hearing on priority basis Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's plea to incorporate paper printouts in electronic voting machines or restore paper balloting system allegedly because EVMs "are not tamper proof."
'Hopefully, the new majority government will give the country a fool-proof electoral system,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Tuesday demanded a probe into the charges made by the self-proclaimed US-based cyber expert, terming them as "very serious" as they concern the survival of democracy in India.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa speaks to Satya Dosapati, an official of Save Indian Democracy, the organisation which exposed the fraud, who says that the EC's decision is alarming.
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