Thousands of Phantom Votes Suspected Across Lok Sabha Seats in Bihar, UP, Delhi, MP - Three former Chief Election Commissioners say EC should explain
New Delhi: In
several Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya
Pradesh, thousands of votes were recorded to have been counted in excess of the
total votes cast, an investigation by Newsclick has revealed. These
constituencies include at least three high-profile ones -- Patna Sahib,
Jehanabad and Begusarai.
In at least one of the eight constituencies investigated, the discrepancy is more than the margin of defeat, leading to fears that the results would have been different in other uninvestigated constituencies, too. These fears come in the wake of widespread complaints and allegations of irregular and suspicious movement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) prior to the counting on May 23, across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana among other states.
https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/thousands-phantom-votes-suspected-across-lok-sabha-seats-bihar-delhi-mpIn at least one of the eight constituencies investigated, the discrepancy is more than the margin of defeat, leading to fears that the results would have been different in other uninvestigated constituencies, too. These fears come in the wake of widespread complaints and allegations of irregular and suspicious movement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) prior to the counting on May 23, across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana among other states.
EC Should Explain,
Say Former CECs
Three former Chief
Election Commissioners (CEC), when contacted by Newsclick on
this matter, expressed surprise and said that the Election Commission (EC)
needs to explain or reconcile the numbers. "Since there are discrepancies, the Election Commission has to explain.
Sometimes there are reasons and since there are none at the moment, they (the
Commission) must give an explanation," said SY Quraishi, who was CEC in
2010-12. He also said that “someone should move the court.”
Another former CEC, N Gopalaswamy (2006-09), said "if the Form-17A polled figures have not been included and/or reconciled, then ask the Election Commission. Ideally, such reconciliation should have been done". HS Brahma, who headed the Election Commission in 2015, told Newsclickthat discrepancy of up to, say, a couple of thousand votes could be understood because sometimes there are issues with postal votes. “But anything more than that needs to be investigated and explained,” he added.. read more:
Another former CEC, N Gopalaswamy (2006-09), said "if the Form-17A polled figures have not been included and/or reconciled, then ask the Election Commission. Ideally, such reconciliation should have been done". HS Brahma, who headed the Election Commission in 2015, told Newsclickthat discrepancy of up to, say, a couple of thousand votes could be understood because sometimes there are issues with postal votes. “But anything more than that needs to be investigated and explained,” he added.. read more:
