Son of civic sweeper cracks UPSC exam
32-year-old Prashant Suresh Bhojane, whose mother is employed as a civic sweeper in Thane city, Maharashtra, has achieved his long-cherished dream of cracking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam. Despite facing numerous challenges, he remained steadfast in his pursuit.
The UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2023 final results were announced on Tuesday, revealing Prashant’s remarkable achievement of securing the 849th rank.
Prashant embarked on his journey towards fulfilling his aspirations back in 2015, when he first attempted the exam.
After nine determined tries, he finally succeeded, proving that perseverance knows no bounds.
His achievement gave a reason to cheer for the residents of Khartan Road Sweepers Colony, where his family lives, as they took out a procession in celebration on Wednesday night. A few local politicians also took part in it.
Prashant’s mother works as a sweeper with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), while his father is a Class IV employee in the civic body. He completed his engineering degree, but was not interested in doing a job in that field as becoming an IAS officer was always his dream, his family members said.
Prashant said that while appearing for the UPSC exam, he started working in Delhi in 2020 at a competitive exam coaching centre, where he was given the job of checking mock exam papers of students. “That way I could study as well as earn my livelihood,” he said.
He said his parents would regularly ask him to stop giving the exams and return home, but he was confident and determined that he would achieve his goal one day.
Prashant’s mother works as a sweeper with the Thane Municipal Corporation, while his father is a Class IV employee
“Mr. Bhushan, now you are going too far. This is too much. Whether it’s transparent or translucent glass on a VVPAT machine or the glowing of a bulb, ultimately it is the voter’s satisfaction and trust (that matters). The bulb only helps you see better, that’s all,” the bench said.
It said: “Everything cannot be suspected. You (Bhushan) cannot be critical of everything. If they (the EC) have done something good, you have to appreciate it. You don’t have to be critical of everything.”
Bhushan said he is not casting any aspersion on the poll panel but possibility for improvement exists.
Justice Khanna told him: “Agree. But if they have improved things within four corners of law, then it is fine. Bulb or no bulb, how does it matter? If an explanation is given, then you must appreciate it. Over suspicion of everything is a problem. A voter has to satisfy himself, that’s all. They gave the explanation for the improvement, you heard them and everyone heard them.”
Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, also appearing for petitioners, said there should be a separate audit to add greater credibility to the counting process.
Prashant Bhushan cited a report on mock poll results in Kerala, where extra votes were recorded for the BJP. The court asked the ECI counsel to explain this. The Election Commission later said that the report was completely false.
In its explanation of the voting process, the poll body said the EVM’s control unit commands the VVPAT unit to print its paper slip. This slip is visible to the voter for seven seconds before it falls into a sealed box, Singh said. The machines are checked before polling in the presence of engineers, it added.
It also said the manufacturer of the electronic voting machines does not know which button is going to be allotted to which political party or which machine is going to be allotted to which state or constituency.
When the court asked if there was any software in the VVPAT printer, the ECI replied in the negative. “There is a 4 megabyte flash memory in every PAT which stores symbols. The returning officer prepares an electronic ballot, which is loaded into the symbol loading unit. It will give a serial number, name of the candidate and symbol. Nothing is preloaded. It’s not data, it’s image format.”
“Seven days before polls, images of symbols are uploaded on the 4 MB flash memory of the VVPAT machine in the presence of candidates or their representatives,” ECI claimed.
When the court asked how many Symbol Loading Units are
created for the polling, a poll body official replied: “Normally one in a constituency. It’s in the custody of the Returning Officer till the conclusion of the poll.” The court then asked if this unit is sealed to ensure no tampering, and the Election Commission replied that no such process is currently in place.
The Election Commission told the court that all voting machines pass through the mock poll process. “Candidates are allowed to pick up randomly 5 per cent machines. The process is repeated on poll day. VVPAT slips are taken out, counted and matched. All machines have different kinds of paper seals. At the time when a machine arrives for counting, seal number can be checked,” an official said.
In a written statement, the poll body claimed in SC that it has matched the EVM votes with more than 4 crore VVPAT slips and no instances of mismatch have been found so far. There are roughly 17 lakh VVPAT machines.
When the court asked how a voter can check if his/her vote has been cast, the official replied that the poll body gives demonstrations and undertakes awareness programmes for this purpose. The Election Commission also said that voting machines get allocated to constituencies randomly.
The Election Commission told the court that the voting machines run on firmware and the program cannot be changed. The machines are kept in strong-rooms that are locked in the presence of representatives of political parties.
The Election Commission said that once polling is over, the machines are taken back to strong rooms, which are sealed in the presence of candidates. On counting day, the strong-rooms are opened in the presence of candidates.
The court then asked the Election Commission if it is possible for a voter to get a slip after voting. The poll body replied that this would compromise the secrecy of the vote and may be misused outside the booth.
When the court asked why it takes more time to count VVPAT paper slips and if machines can be used for this, the poll body said the paper is thin and sticky and is not actually meant for counting.
The Supreme Court said there is a trust factor. “There seems to be some disconnect between what you are telling us and what is available in the public domain. That needs to be bridged,” it said.
The poll official replied: “We have nothing to hide.”
“Voter trust is to be maintained and protected. How do we ensure integrity of (the) entire mechanism?” the court asked.
“We will update FAQs,” the poll body replied.
The Election Commission’s counsel said the petitioners’ request for a return to ballot paper voting system is a “retrograde suggestion”.
Following the Election Commission’s submissions, the Supreme Court told the petitioners: “You need not understand the technical elements. Voter has to
be satisfied with the explanation given by ECI. The Evidence Act also says official acts are normally presumed to be done validly.”
When a petitioner’s counsel pointed out that many developed countries have left the EVM voting system and have gone back to using ballot papers in elections, the Supreme Court said: “Don’t think that foreign countries are more advanced than India.”
“The Indian system is working well and the voting percentage is increasing in every election which shows people are having faith in the system. We all know what used to happen with ballot papers,” the bench said, referring to rigging and booth capturing during elections in the past.
The court reserved the order after hearing arguments from both sides.
The VVPAT — Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail — enables a voter to see if the vote was cast properly and went to the candidate he/she supports. The VVPAT generates a paper slip that is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened if there is a dispute. Currently, VVPAT slips of five randomly selected EVMs in every Assembly segment are verified. The petitions have sought crossverification of every vote.
Issue of EVMs
“When the machines were restarted at the commissioning table, the remaining standardisation slips were printed. That is how the issue was reported at the commissioning table,” the letter said.
The issue was resolved by carrying out a mock poll of 1,000 votes using one of the four EVMs and the VVPAT slips were tallied with the machine count.
“Political parties/candidate agents were then convinced and signed the Annexure 22 certificate,” the letter said.
Two of the four EVMs were replaced due to technical problems, whereas one machine was commissioned after conducting the mock poll, it said.
“The issue was well explained to political parties and they are all convinced. The Kasaragod LAC successfully completed the commissioning of all machines without any other problem. We have a complete record of the events on CCTV camera,” the letter said.
The letter was sent by the RO to the CEO following complaints that some EVMs were wrongly recording votes in favour of the BJP candidate during the mock poll. Earlier in the day, the EC told the Supreme Court that the allegation of EVMs showing one extra vote during the mock poll in Kasaragod was false.
The submission was made while the apex court was hearing a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), an independent vote verification system that enables an elector to see whether his/her vote was cast correctly.
CPI(M) leader M V Balakrishnan is contesting against Congress leader and current Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan and BJP’s M L Ashwini in the constituency for the April 26 Lok Sabha polls.vote. AGENCIES