EC rejects demands of opposition parties seeking VVPAT verification before counting: sources

After a meeting that lasted for around an hour and a half, the poll body came up with the decision to conduct the verification process of VVPAT slips, after the completion of last round of counting.

As many as 22 opposition parties had submitted a memorandum before the Election Commission, on Tuesday, demanding matching of VVPAT slips with EVM figures prior to counting of votes on May 23.

New Delhi: The Election Commission has rejected the demands of the 22 opposition parties seeking verification of VVPAT slips with EVM figures, prior to counting of votes on May 23 rather than at the end, sources informed. After a meeting that lasted for around an hour and a half,  the poll body came up with the decision to conduct the matching of VVPAT slips of five polling booths picked at random, only after the completion of last round of counting, sources said. As many as 22 opposition parties had submitted a memorandum before the Election Commission, on Tuesday, demanding matching of VVPAT slips with EVM figures prior to counting of votes on May 23. The demand came in the wake of charges made by the opposition parties over EVMs being transported allegedly without security in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar. The opposition requested that the verification of VVPAT slips of randomly identified five polling stations be done prior to the initiation of counting of votes and not after the completion of last round of counting. In the memorandum, the opposition leaders have also demanded that if any discrepancy is found anywhere during the VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that assembly segment should be done. The Opposition's move came after the Supreme Court earlier today dismissed a PIL seeking 100 per cent matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes on May 23 for Lok Sabha polls. The Supreme Court has asked the EC to tally the VVPAT slips with the EVM figures of five polling stations in each Assembly constituency across the country, which may delay the results. Alleging that the votes which were cast for the Congress went to the BJP, Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "We have requested that the verification of VVPAT slips of randomly identified (05) polling stations should be done prior to the initiation of vote counting and not after the completion of last round of counting." Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi  had said the Election Commission has called the opposition parties again on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra said: "There is large-scale bungling relating to EVMs in Uttar Pradesh. We demand deployment of central forces." Apart from Azad, Singhvi and Satish Mishra, other opposition leaders who met the poll panel included Raj Babbar, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, Sitaram Yechuri, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav. The opposition leaders said they were "concerned" over videos of alleged movement and tampering of EVMs going viral on social media, a charge dismissed by the Election Commission as "frivolous" and "unfounded". Earlier today, a video clip of EVMs being off-loaded and put in a room inside the counting centre complex in Chandauli was doing the rounds on social media. BJP's state unit president Mahendra Nath Pandey is seeking re-election from the seat. Another video is from Ghazipur where SP-BSP alliance candidate Afzal Ansari is seen staging protest alleging that the administration was trying to change EVMs.