The Election Commission has been at the receiving end as opposition parties continue to make new allegations and question the poll results that are unfavourable to them. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who announced the Delhi poll dates on Tuesday, came out armed with data sets on allegations levelled by the political parties and tried to clarify doubts with poll data.
“There were certain kinds of concerns that were raised (by political parties). It was said that wrongful addition and deletion were made in electoral rolls… It was also said that certain groups are targeted and their names are deleted. Even after giving a reply about EVM – it was said that EVM can be manipulated…” said Kumar before making clarifications.
Saying that the allegations demoralise poll officials, CEC Kumar said, “There are over 10.5 lakh booths and on every booth, there are four to five polling officials. So, their numbers are around 45 to 50 lakhs. They are from the same state but from different departments and different skill sets. They are randomised in front of the candidates, teams are formed and then sent to the booths. If allegations are to be believed, it seems that these people are deployed to manipulate things. They feel the pain as they are at the receiving end.”
CEC Kumar said that so far, the Election Commission has been issuing written clarifications but since this is his last press conference as CEC, he would reply face to face. “Sab sawal ahmiyat rakhte hai, jawab to banta hai. Aadtan kalamband jawab dete rahe, aaj rubaru bhi banta hai. Kya pata kal ham ho na ho, aaj jawab to banta hai,” said Kumar.
Showing the largest political parties in terms of the number of seats won in the election results since 2020, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that those questioning the poll process in one state went to win in another state. “Process cannot be judged on the basis of result,” said the CEC.
Reacting to the electoral roll, CEC Kumar said that there are at least 70 processes in which the political parties work with the election commission. “Whenever electoral rolls are made, regular meetings are held. All political parties have the right to appoint BLAs. Every claims and objections are shared with the political parties…No deletion can take place without Form 7. Even in case of death, the death certificate is kept in our records. And even after this if any deletion has to take place, a notice is sent to the voter and time is given for claims and objections,” explained CEC Rajiv Kumar.
He said that if over 2% deletion takes place at any polling station, then senior officials have to go and personally verify all details. “Now think, where there is a fight for every vote and if 10,000 or 50,000 voters are removed from a polling station or constituency, what will be the situation there,” he said.
Reacting to the EVM row, CEC Kumar said that EVMs are commissioned in front of the agents of the political parties 7-8 days before the voting. Then agents do the mock poll themselves and the new battery is inserted and sealed. The seal is broken in front of them on polling day and again mock poll is done. At the end of the polling, Form 17C – account of votes polled – is given to the polling agents. The EVMs are again sealed in front of them, sent to strong rooms and again seal is broken in front of the agents on counting day and EVMs are verified. The data is again matched with Form 17C and only after the successful matching, the counting can be started.” said Kumar.
Reacting to the questions of 8-10% polling percentage jump after 5pm and demand for proof of long queue after 5-6pm, CEC Kumar said that sector magistrate visit the poll booths during the day to collect trends. “Between 5.30pm to 7pm, presiding officers distribute token to those still in queue. Then they get the voting finished, seal the machine and prepare all the documents including Form 17C….Every candidate of the legislative assembly, by the end of the polling day, collects Form 17C from his polling agents and knows how many votes have been cast in which booth,” said CEC Kumar.
Hinting at US polls, Kumar said that somewhere the counting is not getting concluded even after weeks and here in India, the Election Commisison is accused of increasing voting percentage after two hours. “The polling officials return by 8pm-9pm and then update the voter turnout app with final figures,” said Kumar, clarifying how the voting percentage increases after polling concludes. He said that the final tally matches the Form 17C given to candidates.
Reacting to the allegations of a mismatch in votes polled and votes counted, CEC Kumar said that the Voter Turnout app does not have postal ballot counts and thus the tally differs. “Sometimes, mock poll data is not deleted from the EVM by mistake. This may happen in one or two cases out of lakhs. In that case, the machine is kept aside and if need be, the data is matched with the VVPAT and has no bearing on the results,” said Kumar, adding that over 4.5 crore votes have been matched with VVPATs and not even one mismatch was found. He said that the allegations are baseless and even the courts have ruled so.
CEC Kumar said that India is the gold standard of elections and this is a collective heritage of people, political parties and the poll body. Kumar urged the political parties to refrain from spreading lies.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that sometimes people also go to the level of threatening the polling officers. “We restrain ourselves because it disturbs the level playing field. It is the duty of star campaigners and those who are involved in political campaigns to take care of etiquette. If someone says something about women, we will be very, very harsh, this is our warning…” he said.
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