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Govt rejects EVMs’ tampering charge, Opp stages walkout

Opposition parties led by the Congress today staged walk-outs in the Rajya Sabha at the close of the debate on…

Govt rejects EVMs’ tampering charge, Opp stages walkout

Representational Image (PHOTO: TWITTER)

Opposition parties led by the Congress today staged walk-outs in the Rajya Sabha at the close of the debate on electoral reforms, expressing dissatisfaction with the law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s reply on electronic voting machines' (EVMs) reliability in elections. 

The Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, and Janata Dal-U members walked out complaining that the minister had not satisfactorily answered why voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines for use with the EVMs were not procured in time for the recent assembly elections. 

The law minister cited instances where the Opposition parties had won in elections held with the EVMs, maintaining that there were no complaints then. The Congress had won the recent Punjab election where EVMs were used, but the party had not doubted the reliability of the machines there. 

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Similarly, Mr Prasad recalled, there were several elections where the other Opposition parties like the CPI-M, SP, BSP or JD-U had won, and there were no complaints. Mr Prasad asked the JD-U leader about his party’s victory in Bihar and whether he had any doubts about its fairness. He said the BJP had lost in Delhi in the last poll but the party did not question the use of the EVMs. 

"If BJP loses, the EVMs are OK, but if it wins, they are wrong," Mr Prasad said asking how could this logic be accepted. 

The Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said his party Congress was ready to give up Punjab, but would the BJP be ready to give up Uttar Pradesh. 

The law minister said people in UP had voted for development and they believed that the BJP could deliver it. The Opposition was refusing to accept its defeat and was unnecessarily raising the issue of EVMs reliability, he said. 

Mr Prasad also pointed out that the EVMs, introduced after several expert groups' recommendations and technical approval, had several advantages including that they ensured there would be no invalid votes. There were many occasions when the victory margin of candidates in Lok Sabha was less than the votes declared invalid, he said quoting figures. The EVMs’ use did not allow booth capturing. Only five votes could be cast through EVMs in one minute. 

The law minister said the EVMs were manufactured by public sector undertakings, BEL 

and ECIL. The Opposition should be proud if India had evolved the use of these sophisticated machines, he said, and not complain that they were not used by other countries. 

He said the expenditure incurred by political parties on occasions like visits by the Prime Ministers 

could not be added to the candidates’ poll expenditure. In such a situation, no candidate would like the national leaders of his party to campaign for him. 

He said 35,000 paper trail machines had arrived and another 30,000 would be available soon. The Opposition said at this rate of supplies, it could take over a century-and-half to receive the paper trail machines for all the 16 lakh EVMs in the country, which in any case are supposed to have a lifespan of just 10 years each. 

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