New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday announced the schedule for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025. Ahead of announcing the Delhi Election dates, Kumar dismissed allegations of EVM tempering. He termed these charges “baseless”.
“There were certain kinds of concerns that were raised (by political parties). It was said that wrongful addition and deletion were made in electoral rolls… It was also said that certain groups are targeted and their names are deleted. Even after giving a reply about EVM – it was said that EVM can be manipulated,” Kumar said in a press briefing.
The CEC stated that every claim of manipulation has been thoroughly investigated. “There is no evidence of unreliability or any drawback in the EVM… There is no question of introducing a virus or bug in the EVM. There is no question of invalid votes in the EVM. No rigging is possible. High Courts and the Supreme Court are continuously saying this in different judgments. What else can be said?” the CEC stated.
“EVMs are foolproof devices for counting. Allegations of tempering are baseless. We are speaking now because we don’t speak when elections are on,” he added.
Kumar highlighted that there was not even one difference in 4.5 crore VVPAT slips counted so far in various elections. “After 2019, when the Supreme Court directed that five VVPATs will be counted from each Assembly, 67,000 VVPATs have been counted. Over 5.4 crore slips have been counted. After 2019, not even a difference of one vote has been found. Not even one,” he said.
Addressing the concurs raised by the AAP regarding the deletion of names in the voter list, Kumar said that no deletion is possible until there is Form 7 produced.
“Stories on the electoral roll are still going on. There are around 70 steps in it… electoral roll, election process, EVMs, polling stations, Form 17 (C), counting stations, where political parties and candidates are present there with us. Whenever electoral rolls are formed, and regular meetings are held, it cannot be done without Form 6, every party has the right to appoint a BLA. Whichever claims and objections are raised, they are shared with each political party at the same time; draft is put up on the website; no deletion is possible until there is Form 7 produced,” he said.
Kumar On Elon Musk’s Tweets On EVMs:
The CEC, during the presser, addressed two tweets by Elon Musk in June this year raising concerns over the credibility of EVMS. “It’s a misconceived narrative. A global IT expert said EVMs can be hacked while our elections were going on. They (America) don’t have EVMs, they have electronic voting mechanisms. The remarks created a pandemonium here. The same expert later said that India takes a single day to finish counting, while the US takes over a month. We just follow the narratives that are suiting,” Kumar said. Notably, Musk had claimed that EVMs could be hacked by humans or artificial intelligence. Musk’s tweets sparked a political storm in India as the Opposition parties started citing the Tesla CEO’s views to support their claims.
The polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly is scheduled to take place in a single phase on February 5. Votes will be counted on February 8. Delhi will witness a fierce electoral fight between the AAP, the BJP and the Congress. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party will be eyeing to retain power for the third consecutive time. Meanwhile, the saffron party will be looking forward to gaining the majority mark in the national capital territory. The Congress is also hopeful to increase its vote share and open its account in the Delhi polls.
