Half of Maharashtra's 100 EVM check pleas stuck in election petitions

Of the record 100 plus EVM-VVPAT burnt memory related applications filed after Maharashtra assembly polls, at least 50% are learnt to be caught in election petitions-several of them filed by the INDIA bloc members this month, ET has learnt.

The INDIA bloc last week claimed that nearly 63 EPs had been filed in the Bombay High Court alleging electoral malpractices or manipulation in the Maharashtra assembly polls. Several of these EPs, in fact, are said to have been filed on January 7-- the deadline for filing such petitions following the November 20 assembly polls in Maharashtra. With EPs now coming in the way, the EVM/VVPAT memory Checking & Verification (C&V) process is currently being initiated only for around 50 C&V applications by the ECI's Maharashtra machinery, officials in the know confirmed to ET.

ET gathers that the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra has already written to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the same. The latter is expected to decide on the date for the C&V process which is conducted in the presence of engineers/experts from the EVM manufacturing facility. While the EVM C&V process is timed to be completed within two months of declaration of results, in case of a constituency where an EP challenging the result may have been filed in courts- the process can only be conducted fter court permission.


The EP trend in Maharashtra is, in fact, like Haryana where the opposition Congress has also alleged discrepancies.

On Wednesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi further underlined there was a 'serious problem' with the country's election system and it is the duty of the ECI to 'come clean' and give data on Maharashtra and Haryana polls.

Six of the seven EVM memory check applications filed by losing candidates in the recently held Haryana (6) and J&K elections (1) are also caught amid EPs.

This includes the Badkhal case in HC which forced EC to amend its rulebook recently on public access to polling station footage.

The C&V process was, however, successfully completed in Sirsa on January 9 and no discrepancy was found there, ET has gathered. No discrepancies were found in any of the eight and three C&V applications filed in Lok Sabha polls and Odisha/Andhra Pradesh assembly polls either.

Opposition's electoral drive

Candidates from the Congress party, NCP- Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) are learnt to have filed several EPs in Maharashtra. EP apart, the INDIA bloc has also been driving the surge in the number of C&V applications in Maharashtra.

A record 104 C&V applications have been filed in Maharashtra across 95 constituencies seeking checking of 755 EVMs. The maximum verification applications appear to have been filed by candidates from the Sharad Pawar NCP, as per preliminary assessments. The Congress is not far behind with at least a score of C&V applications filed by its candidates.