'Defective' VVPATs: Congress says EC should restore public faith in electoral process

Congress on Friday raised questions on the "most serious issue" of over one-third of VVPAT machines used in 2019 Lok Sabha election being identified as defective and sought answers from the Election Commission, saying the defects at such a large-scale require full transparency to restore public faith and trust in the electoral process.

It posed eight questions to the poll body while saying that this was the latest in a series of incidents which have "slowly eroded public confidence" in EVMs and VVPATs.

Addressing a press conference, Congress Media Department Chairman Pawan Khera said his party considers it as the "most serious issue" that affects the very integrity of the electoral process as 37 per cent or 6.5 lakh of the 17.40 lakh VVPATs used in 2019 elections were found to be defective.

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"Voters in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, and subsequent Assembly elections, may have had their vote affected. VVPATs themselves were introduced as a measure to boost public confidence in EVMs. In an atmosphere of increasing questions on EVMs, defects at such a large scale require full transparency to restore public faith and trust in the electoral process," he said.

"This cannot be treated as isolated incidents since thousands of VVPATs with consecutive serial numbers in entire batches, from different manufacturers, have been found defective. The defects are serious enough that the machines have been returned to the manufacturers," Khera said.

The Election Commission, however, has countered media reports that a defective VVPAT in no way gives erroneous results, but only signifies stoppage of functioning during the poll process. It also said it has identified 3.43 lakh VVPATs for "preventive maintenance" and 2.43 lakh for upgrade to reduce machine replacement rate.

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Usually, Khera said, the District Election Officer carries out 'first-level check' and returns the defective VVPATs to the EC in seven days but in this case, the EC directly decided in 2021 that these machines be repaired.

"Political parties have not been informed in detail about the reason for these machines being recalled. Our ground level workers tell us they were informed that this activity is being carried out as general procedure by election officials. We have only realised the scale of the issue after media reports, rather than being informed by the EC," Khera said.

Emphasising that the "faith, trust and confidence of every Indian in the process of our election is integral to our democracy", he said it was "key not only to our image as the world’s largest democracy, but also in giving every citizen a voice --- a power to influence the policies of the government".

Alleging that the Modi government is suppressing debate in Parliament, misusing law and order agencies against the opposition, activists and journalists, putting pressure on the judiciary, and intimidating the media, Khera said the power of the vote is "even more precious, and no doubts should be allowed to linger" around it.

He expressed hope that the EC "fully and speedily answered our questions, and restored public confidence by proactively dispelling the questions", which have been raised around VVPATs.

Khera also posed a set of eight questions, which included whether the EC has been able to identify the exact "defects" being observed in the VVPAT machines and why has the rectification and identification of "defects" in VVPATs machines been delayed.

"Has the EC been able to identify all machines where defects have been reported, ie, have all VVPAT machines been tested for defects? Why were the defects not detected at the first level checks, which are in place for VVPAT machines," he said.

He also asked whether the EC has sought reports from DEOs and CEOs who were in-charge of these particular machines declared defective. "What additional safeguards is the EC planning to put in force in order to prevent similar incidents in the future which have far reaching consequences on the elections? In view of the present issues raised in respect of the functioning of VVPAT machines, will the EC continue the usage of these machines in any upcoming elections," Khera added.