EC looks the other way as Akhilesh cries foul over ‘tinkering’ of EVMs

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav’s claim that Election Commission of India (ECI) norms are being violated in between voting and counting of votes in Varanasi and several other places in Uttar Pradesh seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Hours after Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference on Tuesday (March 8), the Election Commission responded only in a roundabout way. The SP leader had alleged blatant violation of norms meant to ensure safe handling and movement of EVMs, with votes or without them.

In response and its defence, the Election Commission simply shared a three-minute video shot in Varanasi by a news channel through a Central Government spokesperson.

The video shows district magistrate (DM) of Varanasi Kaushal Raj Sharma telling news channels that the EVMs claimed to be transported in violation of set practice were actually meant for training the staff that would undertake the task of counting of votes on March 10. He adds that the EVMs were reserved for this purpose alone and none of them had votes cast (by the voters of any of the constituencies where voting concluded on March 7).

Kaushal Raj Sharma also assured that a magistrate would probe into the allegations and he himself would inquire if the election candidates were informed about the movement of 20 EVMs, reiterating once again that these EVMs were meant only for training the staff before counting of actual votes.

Besides the video, a short statement framed by the Lucknow-based Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) was also shared with reporters on WhatsApp where an explanation similar to that of the Varanasi DM was given.

Obviously, none of the three-member Election Commission felt the need to clarify on the points raised by the top SP leader, who also happens to be the main challenger of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Instead, the Commission preferred to issue a rebuttal of sorts via a Central Government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) spokesperson in Delhi.

Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that a similar incident was reported in Bareilly where 500 ballot papers, including both stamped and unstamped, besides EVMs were found to be in transit in a garbage van of the local municipal body.

The SP leader pointed at another incident where an EVM was found in the car of a Sub Divisional Magistrate in Sonebhadra district. Akhilesh Yadav said the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been calling district magistrates, advising them to slow down counting where BJP could turn out to be on a weak footing.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaja Party (SBSP) leader, was also present at Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference. Rajbhar said the first incident of EVMs being transported without candidates’ knowledge happened with an eye on his son’s candidacy. The EVMs were intercepted in Varanasi from where Rajbhar’s son Arvind Rajbhar is a candidate with SP’s support.

The senior Rajbhar recalled how he and his son were mobbed in Varanasi when the two went to file nomination papers earlier.

It is quite evident that fears of rigging by way of tinkering, tweaking or swapping EVMs have set alarm bells in the Samajwadi Party camp. Their claim was strengthened by an incident, reported a few days back, when a few bits of paper from VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail of EVMs) were found strewn close to a strong-room where EVMs and VVPATs were stored after polling in Basti district.

Before Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference, a Samajwadi Party middle-rung leader from another district in Eastern UP alleged that election returning officers were instructed by one of their higher ups in Lucknow to wait for their word before declaring the winner at the respective counting centre on March 10. Therefore, the SP has asked its workers to remain present at the counting centres on Thursday instead of watching poll results on the TV.

Soon after the exit polls were telecast on Monday evening, Akhilesh’s uncle and party’s Rajya Sabha member Ramgopal Yadav shared a message with SP workers that claimed that the exit polls were meant to influence counting, though he said the party would comfortably win about 300 seats. “Those who think that they can doctor the verdict and steal the mandate should know that Samajawadi Party workers were capable of beating any conspiracy,” Ramgopal Yadav said in the note.

In this backdrop, the SP workers had mounted a vigil of sorts before they intercepted a pick-up and a trash van in Varanasi and Bareilly respectively which, according to them, were transporting EVMs and ballot papers in a suspicious manner. They also clicked photos of EVMs kept in the two vehicles. These pictures soon went viral. The SP claims it is a part of the bigger plot to rig the polls and hijack people’s verdict.

Also read: Videos show EVMs being stolen in UP: Akhilesh drops a bombshell

While the Uttar Pradesh state authorities have chosen not to speak on Samajwadi Party’s claims, the Election Commission has preferred to maintain a stoic silence on the issue. A longtime observer of UP politics finds this to be “quite intriguing”. He said, “These incidents have no parallel or precedence. The elections took place in UP in what looks like to be a default mode where attempt to win by hook or crook has become too palpable.”

The observer rued that the Election Commission was nowhere visible after its members unwittingly tried to take a Mercedes ride on their visit to Lucknow to plan out the poll schedule and other modalities before announcement of polls and enforcement of model code of conduct. However, their swanky German sedan ride was quickly abandoned for three other modest vehicles for as many Election Commissioners, including their chief Sushil Chandra. But before they could opt or rather hop onto another car, photo journalists captured the moment in cameras. Some of these appeared in the next day’s newspapers in Lucknow. It became obvious that the indiscretion or rather indulgence in the selection of cars was a result of press being tipped off by officials in the higher echelons of someone in the Lucknow bureaucracy.

This time too the alleged plan to fix the pace for counting of votes stored in the EVMs as also that of the postal ballots were obviously leaked to Akhilesh Yadav by one of the officers only. This is what the former Chief Minister himself indicated before media-persons while declining to disclose the official’s name. The SP leader also talked about the flutter in the bureaucracy created by the possibility of his return to power after a gap of five years. Quite a few officers are vying to catch Akhilesh’s attention. One of the reasons for this excitement is SP’s promise to restore old pension regime for the retiring staff. The Yogi Government had scrapped the provision.

The root cause of the trouble between officials and netas, before March 10 counting, runs deep down the bureaucratic maze of Uttar Pradesh. This is more so because Lucknow’s babudom inevitably undergoes major shakeup after every election. So how is the situation going to be any different this time?