Safety of EVMs, a cause for concern among candidates

Visakhapatnam : A sense of insecurity prevails among candidates as the EVMs were locked in the strong rooms at Andhra University.

They express suspicion over the safety of the EVMs on the campus as there is a scope for tampering.

Candidates contesting for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Visakhapatnam raise objections to the storage of EVMs at Andhra University. Expressing their suspicion, they demanded installation of CCTV cameras and facilitation of a live web link at the campus where EVMs have been secured.

Mentioning that they need to review the situation at the campus from time to time, the candidates submitted a petition to the District Collector in this regard.

Expressing their concern over the safety of EVMs, they stated in the letter that they hardly repose any trust in the university campus and hence are requesting live link so that they could monitor it on a continuous basis by themselves.

The Returning Officer was requested to take steps to ensure that the live link is available till the counting starts.

The candidates informed that despite the guidelines given supporting a live link, they were denied access to it. Even as they appealed to the authorities concerned repeatedly, the candidates mentioned that they are not paying any heed to their requests.

A few days ago, Visakhapatnam alliance Lok Sabha candidate M Sribharat’s agent wrote a letter to the officials expressing his concern over the safety of EVMs at the AU campus.

Praja Shanti Party president Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha candidate KA Paul questioned why the live link facility was not provided to the candidates. He pointed out that there is a scope for tampering at the campus and measures should be taken to prevent such malpractices.

The candidates lamented that they could not monitor what is happening in the strong room for 21 days, but if there is a live link provided to them, their teams will be able to monitor it continuously.

Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha candidate Jaladi Vijaya stated that she witnessed violation at polling booths directly. “A woman voter who came to the booth was allowed only to vote for the MLA candidate. When she raised the issue, I ensured that she got a chance to vote for the MP candidate as well. Later, there was a huge difference between the count of the pink and white slips at the booth. Since we cannot trust the authorities or the EVMs, we definitely need a live link at the campus to monitor,” said Vijaya.

Meanwhile, Hari Ganesh, another candidate, said that he had contested from the north constituency in 2019 elections and was given a web link with password immediately back then. He questioned why it is not being shared now. “Despite our repeated pleas, if the live link is not provided, there is a large scope for the EVMs to get tampered,” he opined.

The candidates told The Hans India that the issue will be taken forward to the Chief Election Commissioner of India as well.