EC team forgets to delete mock polls in 6 booths of Uttarakhand
Before the counting of votes, a big mistake of the election team in Uttarakhand has been revealed. In the six booths of the state, the records of the mock polls were not removed from EVMs. Now these EVMs will be removed from counting and will be completed through VVPAT. Before the voting starts on the day of voting on the commission’s instructions, 50-50 mock polls are cast in the presence of a polling agent in every EVM. They are destroyed with the control button before official voting starts. But in many polling stations in Uttarakhand, the polling team started the polling without deleting the mock poll. Later, it was found to be the difference between the total votes and the difference in votes recorded in the EVM. Not only this, in the remaining states of the country, the possibility of such a mistake cannot be ruled out. The Election Commission of India has written to the Chief Electoral Officers of all the states on Tuesday asking them to keep such EVMs separate from the counting. Instead of these EVMs, only VVPAT slips will be counted. Where even the mock pole has been recorded in VVPAT, the final count will be based on its records. Election Commission Deputy Secretary Madhusudan Gupta has issued a letter related to it.
Error in these districts
Record of mock polls were not removed from One machine in the Haridwar district, one in Nainital, one in Pithoragarh, one in Almora and another in Uttarkashi district. Chief Electoral Officer Uttarakhand Saujanya has confirmed this. She said that these EVMs will be kept completely separate from the counting.
Among the questions raised by the political parties on the electoral system, the Uttarakhand Election Commission has increased the crisis of the Election Commission in Uttarakhand. In Uttarakhand, the information of the mock polls being stuck in six EVMs has come to light in 6 polling booths, the officials are fearing this issue may arise somewhere else on the day of polling. Due to many drawbacks from the day of voting till the counting of votes, questions have started arising on election management. On the day of polling, the Chief Electoral Officer’s office took more than 24 hours to issue the official figure of the total vote percentage. Right now, on the carelessness of the mock poll, the officials are not being able to say anything. The extent was that even after such a mistake came up, the Commission has not taken any action directly against political parties or candidates, as well as what action was taken against responsible voting personnel, there is no concrete answer.
Election officials in many districts are accepting that when EVMs and VVPATs will come out of Strong Room on the day of counting of votes then this type of error can be found in some other places. Then have to satisfy the candidates. However, now there is no complaint of mock poll slip error in VVPAT in Uttarakhand.
No action taken for more than a month
Voting in the state had ended on April 11, but the election team has been pressing the matter for more than a month. So far no action has been taken against the caretaker election personnel. Given the sensitivity of elections, strict action should be taken.
