Poll panel works to dispel doubts on EVMs

An initiative to dispel doubts in the minds of voters about the electronic voting machines (EVMs) being vulnerable to tampering or hacking was launched for the first time across the district.

The exercise was launched from February 21, on the directions of the Election Commission, as many politicians from the district had declared that EVMs were vulnerable to tampering and former legislators even had filed cases on replacing EVMs with ballot boxes in the High Court, sources in the district election office said.

Belthangady was the first among the taluks to have completed the awareness camps on EVMs a week ago. Belthangady Assembly constituency, a huge constituency, was divided into six zones and six master were entrusted with the task of completing awareness camps in one zone.

‘Fool-proof’

On the final day of the campaign, at Banjaru Malekudiya Colony in Charmadi, master trainer Dharanendra K emphasised on how the EVM was fool-proof. The security features also make the machine tamper-proof. Dharanendra serves as teacher in the Government High School, Punjalkatte.

He invited each voter to mock register his or her vote with the help of the VVPAT (Vote Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). The master trainer also guided each semi-literate voters on familiarising themselves on their names, and the election symbols of the candidates printed on slips of paper.

The teacher, responding to every query of the students, also demonstrated how the None Of The Above (NOTA) vote could be registered in the machine. He also showed the Malekudiyas on how a vote polled could never be duplicated. Dharanendra also guided three first-time voters in the Colony on obtaining their EPICs.

Boycotting polls

The tribals, during an informal chat with the master trainer later, revealed their plans to boycott the elections in protest against the lack of facilities in the Colony.

A previous attempt to boycott elections had failed as the officials had stolen their banner urging political leaders not to visit the Colony, the tribals alleged.

Voter ID card applications rejected

Hundreds of applications of first-time voters seeking their voters’ identity cards were rejected by the ELO Manjunath.

Sources in the election office at the Mini Vidhana Soudha said that the officer had rejected as the applicants had failed to attach their SSLC certificates with the applications.