The Election Commission of India said on Tuesday that it had not found any discrepancy between the VVPAT slip count and the EVM control unit count in the Maharashtra Assembly election last month after opposition parties alleged inconsistencies in the electoral process.
The voter verifiable paper audit trail is a vote verification mechanism that enables voters to see whether their votes have been recorded correctly by way of a slip that is briefly visible after the electronic-voting-machine button is pressed.
As per rules, poll officials must count the VVPAT slips of randomly selected five polling stations per assembly constituency, which the commission said was followed on Nov. 23 during the counting procedure. Counting observers and representatives from political parties and candidates were present. Maharashtra voted in a single phase on Nov. 20.
"As per that, slip count of 1,440 VVPAT units of 288 assembly constituencies of Maharashtra state has been tallied with respective control unit data," ECI said in a statement. "There is no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs."
"Dues procedure laid by ECI has been followed," it added.
The poll body's statement comes a week after a Congress delegation met ECI officials in New Delhi and raised concerns over alleged inconsistencies in the electoral process for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, including the issue of large numbers of deletions and additions in the voters' list.
The opposition party sought raw data from the poll panel to ascertain facts. Allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP) have also raised the matter.
The Congress delegation, including Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, officials and explained the party's concerns over the polls.
"We questioned the door-to-door surveys, which are mandatorily required before deletions. We have asked for the raw data for the form involved. For deletions, it is Form 7 and for additions it is Form 6," Singhvi said, adding that the Congress sought booth- and constituency-wise data for Maharashtra.
"This raw data will tell us how there was such a large number and, if actually it was preceded by a door-to-door check. We expressed concern over the deletions as ground workers pointed to instances of one individual having 250 forms. Such en-masse, collective deletion smacks of great suspicion and distrust,' Singhvi said.
The ruling BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance won 230 of the 288 seats in the assembly elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
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