Kerala CEO dismisses claims of ‘extra votes for BJP’ in mock poll

KERALA’S CHIEF Electoral Officer (CEO) Thursday said apprehensions of electronic voting machines (EVMS) giving extra votes to the BJP candidate during a mock poll in Kasaragod were baseless.

The mock poll was held in the Loksabhaseatwednesdayaspart of the commissioning of EVMS ahead of the Lok Sabha election settobeheldinkeralaonapril26.

After an initial examination of theevms,theywerebroughtinfor the mock poll — an exercise that takes place in front of the candidates or agents assigned by them.

It was when the machines were turned on for the mock poll that additional VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) slips with the BJP symbol came out. CEO Sanjay Kaul cited the report from Kasaragod District Collector Imbasekar K, saying the message “not to be counted” was written on these slips, which were also longer than other VVPAT slips.

He said that the slips also had “standardisationdone”writtenon it. All of this makes it evident that these slips — one each came out from four EVMS — were preliminary examination slips meant to ensure the machines worked as per standards, the officer said.

He said all voting machines being used in Lok Sabha elections in the state are “completely safe and error-free”.

The CPI(M) and Congress candidates from Kasaragod, M V Balakrishnan and Rajmohan Unnithan, respectively, had Wednesday complained to the district collector, also the Returning Officer for Kasaragod, thatbjpcandidatemlashwingot more votes during the mock poll.

Followingthecomplaints,areportwassoughtfromthecollector regarding this matter.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court, which was hearing petitions seeking 100% verification of Evmvoteswiththeirvvpatslips, also asked the Election Commissiontolookintotheissue.

Bharatelectronicslimitedengineers, who were setting up the EVMS, explained to the collector that some machines were taken for commissioning before the printing of standardisation slips were complete, and that this was whywhentheevmswereturned on for commissioning, the remaining slips came out. The collector said the process was on video and that issue was explained to parties.