BJP senior leader L K Advani has also called for reverting to the ballot paper, if the EVM checks were unsatisfactory. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and JD (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda have also expressed reservations on the functioning of EVMs.
On its part, the Congress stated it was satisfied with the EC and the EVMs. “It was an astonishing statement from a top leader of a losing party,” said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
“Advani’s comments are most unfortunate. I hope and trust that they do not betray a lack of grace over the loss in the elections,” he said.
It all began on June 30, when former Delhi Chief Secretary and IIT alumni Omesh Saigal met the CEC, asking him to have a relook at the software lying at the core of the EVMs and the Commission’s verification process.
Saigal demanded an audit of the EVMs used in polls after 2004 on the basis of a software which ensures that after a certain code number was keyed in an EVM, every fifth vote cast in a particular polling booth would go in favour of a certain candidate.
Saigal said he commissioned a young programmer to write the rigging software.
The former bureaucrat alleged that the software written onto the EVMs has never been checked by the EC since these machines were manufactured six-seven years ago.
The EC relied on the certificate supplied by the two manufacturers, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bangalore and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, Hyderabad.
Saigal said it was “possible and plausible” to rig these machines and get a crooked result.
Forwarding the cue provided by Advani, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday demanded a probe before putting the EVMs in use in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.
However, the BJP made it “very clear” that it was not raising any question mark over the recently held Lok Sabha elections in the “absence of any tangible proof”.
Countering the BJP demands, Singhvi said he hoped that Advani did not take the country back to the dark ages when India is proclaimed a proud democracy with 1.2 million EVMs in over one million polling booths and 700 million voters and results are out in four hours after counting starts.
On the controversy, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said: “Many questions have been raised related to EVMs. These are serious issues and if we want to strengthen our democracy, then we should consider the matter very seriously.”
Deve Gowda too pitched in with support for the ballot paper as he said secrecy could not be maintained in EVMs.
“In EVMs, booth-wise details of voting could be known, which could lead to parties intimidating and harassing voters after the poll. This system should be abandoned,” Gowda said.
DH News Service
Machines are tamper-proof, says EC
In a response to the EVM controversy, the Election Commission on Sunday said though it was amply satisfied with the tamper-proof nature of the machines, it would address the concerns expressed by political parties, reports DHNS from New Delhi. The commission said the authenticity and security of EVMs were endorsed by two technical committees in the 1990s.
The first one was headed by S Sampath then Chairman of the research advisory council of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the second one was chaired by P V Indiresan then with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
The Commission has also put in place an elaborate administrative measures and procedural checks-and–balances aiming at total transparency and prevention of any possible misuse or procedural lapses. An official said, Saigal only handed over a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla on June 30 and no demonstration on the tampering was given.