EVM tampering reports were baseless rumours in many cases says UP CEO

With incidents of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) used during the ongoing civic polls in Uttar Pradesh stirring doubts over their security and reliability, an investigation was conducted by the state government which revealed that many of the incidents reported were “baseless rumours”.

Chief Electoral Officer L Venkateshwarlu, who is in-charge of conducting the municipal elections in UP, told ET that while a probe is still underway, many cases were proven to be false. “It is absolutely not possible that a vote given to a particular party will get transferred to another party. Such tampering is impossible,” he said.

Civic polls are underway in Uttar Pradesh and are being carried out in three phases. The first phase saw faulty EVMs being reported from Meerut and Kanpur where voters had reportedly complained that the EVMs were recording votes only for the BJP candidates, irrespective of the button pressed, prompting political parties to raise the issue.


The second phase, conducted on November 26, saw cases of faulty EVMs reported from Lucknow. The third phase of polls, which are being seen as a litmus test for the Yogi government, will be held on November 29. Results will be declared on December 1.

Dismissing concerns being raised over the tampering, Venkateshwarlu said EVMs undergo three levels of checking and there is no question of any software in the control unit being manipulated to favour any political party. He however admitted that most incidents were cases of “technical” glitches in which the buttons were not working, units were physically damaged or the batteries had stopped working.

“In each case, the machine was replaced and that may have caused a minor delay in the poll process,” he said adding that he is awaiting reports from all districts.