Ahead of the Lok Sabha election results on June 4, the INDIA alliance called on the Election Commission (EC) to prioritize the counting of postal ballots over Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes. Members of the INDIA alliance met EC officials, asked for clear guidelines on the counting process and emphasized the importance of postal ballots. Congress president Abhishek Singhvi stressed that the ballot papers could affect the outcome of the election, so their timely counting would be crucial.
In their letter to the EC, INDIA bloc leaders pointed out that the winning margin in the 2020 Bihar elections was 12,700 votes for the state, while the number of postal ballots was 52,000. “In fact, there was huge outrage in Bihar because it was the first election (held after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic) where postal ballots were counted at the end of the EVM vote count,”
What is the controversy surrounding EVMs and postal ballots?
The controversy surrounding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails) has resurfaced with critics claiming that EVMs can be tampered with. They demand cross-verification of all EVM votes using VVPAT tickets.
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the INDIA opposition bloc passed a resolution demanding “100% counting of VVPAT slips”. They proposed that the VVPAT ticket be given to the voter to be placed in a separate ballot box, which would ensure full verification and increase public confidence in the electoral process.
