Opposition parties ask Election Commission to count 50% VVPATs for tamper-free voting

Twenty-three Opposition parties on Monday jointly petitioned the Election Commission, demanding foolproof arrangements to make the electronic voting machines (EVMs) “tamper free” in the Lok Sabha elections. They demanded that at least 50% of the voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) be counted and matched with the tally of EVMs.

“We have told the Chief Election Commission (CEC) that during the many elections in the past 3-4 years, there have been widespread complaints that when voters pressed the symbol of various candidates, votes were always registered by the EVMs on the ‘lotus symbol’. The EC officials were not effective in dealing with the complaints. So now, 23 Opposition parties have demanded that the EC must take effective and transparent steps against the misuse of EVMs and, therefore, must count at least 50% of the VVPATs and match it with that of the EVMs’ counting results,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, after the meeting. “This must be decided by the EC itself, not by a technical committee which has no understanding of the ground realities,” he stressed.

The meeting with the EC brass followed Friday’s meeting of the 23 Opposition parties in Delhi where they alleged systematic tampering of the EVMs by the dispensation and demanded remedial measures.


Though most of these parties are in favour of the EC reverting to ballot papers, in view of the short time before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls they are focusing on technical back-up arrangements to protect the credibility of EVMs. They demanded that the EC must be sensitive to the growing doubts among people about the credibility of the EVMs, and therefore, must take steps to assuage the feeling of the voters.

“The voters and political parties are the stakeholders in the elections and, it is the duty of the EC to ensure free and transparent elections as EVM-tampering amounts to manipulating the very essence of democracy,” said JDS leader Danish Ali. D Raja said the CEC assured the delegation that the EC would take necessary steps in consultation with the technical committee and pointed out a case on this issue is already pending before the Supreme Court.