EVM Frauds Reported to Help BJP in Lok Sabha Election of India
Instead of boycotting the elections till the elections are held on paper ballots, the naive politicians are taking half-hearted measures of holding useless press conferences and going to the ineffective Supreme Court.
By Rakesh Raman
Leaders of a number of opposition parties again claimed on Sunday (April 14) that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) being used in the ongoing Lok Sabha election have been manipulated to favor Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The opposition leaders decided to move the Supreme Court again to demand verification of at least 50% of votes cast in election against the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
Leaders of 21 opposition parties, including the Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India, and Communist Party of India (Marxist), jointly addressed a press conference in Delhi on Sunday to highlight the extreme glitches in the EVMs.
While most political leaders are not quite educated in India, they fail to understand that it is not safe to use EVMs even with VVPAT. The machines can be secretly programmed to deliver desired election results even when the VVPAT counting happens.
[ Real Voter Reveals How EVMs Are Manipulated to Win Elections ]
People in Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh) alleged on Thursday (April 11) that no matter who they vote for, all the votes were automatically going to BJP. The voting for the election began on April 11 in 20 states for 91 Lok Sabha seats.
According to reports, a BSP candidate Malook Nagar, who also went there to make an inquiry, blamed the BJP government in the State and at the Centre for installing faulty EVMs.
He alleged that this is a large scale conspiracy by the BJP while EVMs have been tempered to malfunction so that all the votes should go to the BJP candidates. However, local administrative officials have refuted the allegations saying that there was no problem in the machines but agreed to change some of the machines.
[ Faulty EVMs Again Voting for BJP in Lok Sabha Polls: Reports ]
The faulty EVMs also led to delay of commencement of polling in several constituencies of Andhra Pradesh. Reports suggest many voters returned home without casting their votes due to the problems with EVMs across the State.
Earlier, on April 8, the Supreme Court had ordered that VVPAT slips of five randomly selected EVMs in every constituency be counted instead of just one EVM in the elections. The court had passed the order on a petition filed by the 21 opposition parties.
However, after observing the EVM frauds, the opposition parties say that the Supreme Court order is insignificant and they will approach the top court again to complain about the vulnerability of EVMs.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused BJP of “programming” the EVMs to win elections. The opposition parties will carry out a nationwide campaign to highlight the EVM frauds allegedly being committed by BJP in connivance with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Polling in AP has concluded, I’m fighting for the country & for democracy. 23 political parties are unitedly demanding at least 50% VVPAT counting.
Citizens of this country have lost confidence in EC. It is the need of the hour to take immediate confidence-building measures pic.twitter.com/7gDwbj78kY
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) April 14, 2019
Meanwhile, BJP said that by blaming EVMs the opposition parties are trying to find excuses for their impending defeat in Lok Sabha polls.
A research paper “Security Analysis of India’s Electronic Voting Machines” has analyzed the faults in the EVMs and how they can be exploited to change the election results fraudulently.
But the Indian politicians are not taking the right steps to resolve the EVM issue. Instead of boycotting the elections till the elections are held on paper ballots, the naive politicians are taking half-hearted measures of holding useless press conferences and going to the ineffective Supreme Court.
Obviously, BJP will win again on EVMs and the opposition leaders will keep crying for the next 5 years.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications on different subjects.
