Dissatisfied candidates can choose any EVM for investigation, know which options are given by Election Commission

New Delhi: The Election Commission has given various options, including conducting a pilot poll from EVMs of any polling station or conducting a pilot check of VVPAT slips, to aggrieved candidates, who had approached the Supreme Court seeking probe into allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering after the results of Lok Sabha and state assemblies were declared.According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) released by the Election Commission on Tuesday, candidates who came second and third in the election have been given the option to check EVMs of a large number of polling stations chosen by them.The Election Commission said moving away from the old practice of controlled checks eliminates any possibility or apprehension of bias or tampering in the process of checking and verification.

8 dissatisfied candidates applied

The Election Commission has received applications from eight disgruntled candidates, including BJP and Congress, requesting for an inquiry into the alleged tampering or alteration of micro-controller chips in EVMs after the declaration of Lok Sabha election results on June 4. The Supreme Court had on April 26 dismissed the petitions seeking restoration of the old process of voting through ballot papers, terming the possibility of tampering of EVMs as ‘baseless’. However, the apex court had at the same time opened the way for the disgruntled candidates who came second and third, allowing them to get the ‘micro controller’ chips of five per cent EVMs in each assembly constituency examined and verified with a written application and fee.

Election Commission gave many options

The Election Commission said that eligible candidates can give the option of polling stations or serial number of machines in an Assembly constituency or constituency, provided that a maximum of five per cent of EVMs used in that constituency or seat are subjected to checking and verification process. This will ensure that EVMs are selected from the entire constituency as per the choice of the applicant and there will be no involvement of any third party or official in the selection or omission of a particular machine. The Commission said that candidates will also be given the option to choose EVMs from any polling station in a constituency for verification.

If any applicant candidate selects a specific unit – Ballot Unit, Control Unit or VVPAT of a particular polling station, then he/she is not bound to select other units of the same set used at that polling station. The commission can conduct a trial voting as per its wish from any machine to check whether the voting has been done correctly or not. But for this the maximum number of votes has been fixed at 1400. Similarly, the VVPAT will also be counted as per the prescribed procedure.