Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Don’t threaten the sanctity of the EC

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button was pressed. When reporters asked for a clarificat­ion, instead of making things clear the officer threatened to have them arrested if word got out. That was when things went awry.

After the incident, the Election Commis sion must learn a lesson: it should ensure 100% implementa­tion of all parameters of the electoral process. Those officers violating this should be given the strictest punishment. At the same time, to make its functionin­g more transparen­t, the Election Commission had demanded the facility of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with every EVM The Centre has sanctioned a sum of ₹3,174 crore for this. It is an auspicious signal.

It is believed that the results in those five states where the EVMS already had VVPATS installed were analysed after the assembly polls. The analysis showed that the votes polled were in the same ratio as the final ver dict. For instance, the machines registered more voting for the Congress in Punjab and the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Is this fact not enough to remove the misconcept­ions in the minds of those making wild allegation­s? They are themselves not without blemish.

Here I must request self-styled social media stalwarts not to fire missiles of words without thinking about consequenc­es. The genera tions before us have refined our convention­s time and again to make sure that the sanctity of these institutio­ns is maintained after a lot o deliberati­on. We have no right to shatter it.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? The EC had demanded a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail with every EVM
HT PHOTO The EC had demanded a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail with every EVM

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