Advani doubts on EVMs divide parties,EC says safe but will clear the air

While the EC maintained today that the EVMs were foolproof,the political class threw up an array of opinions ranging from calls for a constructive debate on the subject to motives of such apprehensions being raised at this juncture.

Advanis comments are most unfortunate,astonishing8230; I hope and trust that they do not betray a lack of grace over the loss in the elections, said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. His party colleague Manish Tewaris observations were more nuanced. While I would agree with Election Commissioner Quraishis statement,I would also like a wider discussion on the efficacy of the EVMs and whether there could be manipulation at a macro level he said.

Janata Dal U leader Sharad Yadav said he had received complaints on EVMs malfunctioning from PMK leader S Ramadoss and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu,and that the poll panel should convene a meeting of various political parties to allay their apprehensions.

The CPM too wanted the issue to be considered very seriously. Many questions have already been raised related to EVMs8230; These are serious issues and if we want to strengthen our democracy then we should consider the matter very seriously, said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury,adding that many countries using EVMs had reverted to ballot papers,Germany being the latest example. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee,however,dismissed such claims.

JD S president H D Deve Gowda had a different take and said EVMs should be abandoned because booth-wise details of voting are easily known in the present system.

The BSP was surprised by these apprehensions being voiced by a losing party at this juncture. Its being said that the West is getting back to the ballot papers,but they are rarely faced with the problem of invalid votes,something so rampant in a country like ours. The problem of invalid votes is addressed in the system of EVMs. The concerns about EVMs are being raised by a losing party,so Im hardly surprised, said BSP treasurer and Rajya Sabha MP Ambeth Rajan.

While the LJP and RJD too voiced apprehensions over the working of EVMs,RSP leader Abani Roy advocated the middle path. Possibilities of technical glitches in the EVMs must be addressed,but we must persist with the present system, said Roy.

The Election Commission,which used 11.83 lakh EVMs in 9 lakh polling stations across the country during the general elections,cited endorsements from the Madras High Court,Bombay High Court,Karnataka High Court and Kerala High Court,as upheld by the Supreme Court,to point out that it had a foolproof system in place.

The Commission has also been consulting a group of technical experts comprising Prof PV Indiresan and IIT professors Prof DT Sahani and Prof AK Agarwala regularly,on all EVM related technical issues.

The EC,in its release,said that former Delhi Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal had only met the Chief Election Commissioner and that he had not made any presentation before the poll panel. Saigal,on the other hand,claimed he was ready to make a presentation before the poll panel or its technical committee whenever he was asked to as he had found that rigging of EVMs was possible and that a programme written by a junior programmer showed that the final results could vary if the pre-programmed code number was keyed into the machine.