Election Commission allays Congress fear of EVM ‘tampering’ in Madhya Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Thursday said it was as per the poll panel’s instructions of July 2018 that power supply of the EVM strong room in Bhopal was disconnected after it was sealed, to rule out a short-circuit. As for the CCTV cameras and LED screen installed outside the strongroom, it said they were functional right from sealing of the strong room till interruption of power supply at 8.19 am on November 30 due to “local fault of electricity arrangement”, which was restored at 9.35 am.

The commission, in a detailed response to Congress’ complaint dated December 4 alleging illegalities in deposit of EVMs in the strong room and incidents related to reserve EVMs in Madhya Pradesh, stated that when DEO (district election officer), Bhopal visited the strong room in the morning, he found its security as per norms. “The in-charge of CISF stated that there was temporary power cut during above mentioned period and no person visited during this time and EVM strong room is secured as per norms,” it added.

EC further stated DEO had mistakenly informed the media that the power failure was due to a power cut by the electricity board, while “it was due to local fault of electricity arrangement”.


Regarding Congress complaint about staff of returning officer’s team entering the strong room in Maihar assembly constituency of Satna, EC said the officers had only gone to a standalone store room “far from the strong room area” to keep empty boxes needed to pack EVMs/VVPATs after counting. It added that the DEO had demonstrated to some candidates that no person had even come close to the strong room area.