EVMs are not tamper-free: NPCC

Will submit representation for using VVPAT ballot papers, says Therie 

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | May 10

Alleged tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to manipulate vote count and a demand to shift towards adopting VVPAT ballot papers were among the key issues raised by the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) during a press conference at the Congress Bhavan in Dimapur on May 10.  

K Therie, President of NPCC said that although EVMs have been in use in the country for almost two two-decades, many of the advanced nations have abandoned EVMs because it lacks transparency. 

As such, he announced that the NPCC would be submitting a representation to the Election Commission of India in this matter. The other list of demands include, one day polling, simultaneous counting at the polling station, declaration of results a day after polling and re-polling where winning margin is lower than the said polling station vote. 

Therie alleged that after the BJP’s came to power, from 2014 to 2018, “19 lakh EVMs were missing after having been supplied by the two state run EVM manufacturing companies.” 

“We are made to understand that the two EVM manufacturing companies have manufactured more than 40 lakh EVMs out of which the ECI has claimed that they have received only 19 lakh. Now where is that 20 lakh missing?” quizzed Therie. He also claimed that missing EVMs were found in the buses, trucks, schools and residences of BJP leaders, while pointing out that the total EVM requirement is only about 12 to 13 lakh.

He also said that there is an ongoing court case in the Bombay High Court with regards to “vulnerability and unreliability” of EVMs, however the ECI has failed to give a satisfactory reply to the High Court till today. 

On the ECI’s claim that EVMs are tamper-free, one time programmable, cheap, and cannot be over written, Therie had a different opinion. He explained that during mock demonstrations, about 50 votes are normally registered after which the votes are cleared and the EVMs are reset. Based on this, he said that the ECI’s ‘tamper-free’ claims were false as the EVMs can be reset. 

Stating that the matter would also be raised on other platforms, Therie appealed all political parties to support the demand for transparency in voting and counting process. 

“We are bringing answers to all these issues so that the ECI does not have any arguments against us. If they don’t take it seriously then we will go to the Supreme Court or any other court necessary,” he asserted. 

“We want transparency and we want to be definite that our vote is accounted towards the desired candidate,” Therie insisted.