Counting of EVM votes should be done far from mobile phone towers: Goa NCP

In a bizarre request, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa urged the Chief Electoral Officer in Goa to ensure that the exercise of storing electronic voting machines (EVMS) and counting of votes polled in them, should be carried out in a location where there is no mobile coverage to prevent tampering of EVMs.

State NCP general secretary Sanjay Barde also said that Goa should go to vote in the last phase of the multi-state elections in 2022, saying the one-month gap between voting and counting of votes during the 2017 state assembly polls in Goa was suspicious and the EVMs could be prone to rigging.

"Counting should not be held in the vicinity of mobile towers. It should be done in an xyz place where there is no mobile range," Barde said. The NCP leader also said that electronic voting machines could be possibly tampered with the help of cellular range.

He also said that Goa was a small state and should revert to paper ballot for conducting state assembly elections to eliminate any possibility of hacking into EVMs.

"Goa is a small state. Our municipal elections are held using ballot paper. ZP polls on ballot paper. Why use EVMs for these elections? Crores of rupees are spent on these machines. We should revert to paper ballots for assembly polls too," Barde said after submitting a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer in Panaji.

Barde also suggested Goa should go to polls in the last phase of the elections which are scheduled to be held in five states namely Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

"Goa elections should be held along with the last phase of voting in UP, so that votes are counted immediately," Barde said. The delay in counting of votes, Barde said, could also provide an opportunity for rigging.

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