Six months after BJD debacle, why Naveen Patnaik has joined INDIA chorus against EVMs

For the first time, amid protests by the Opposition INDIA bloc against electronic voting machines (EVMs), Patnaik has also lent his voice in support of a return to paper ballots. “We do support if paper ballots are back again,” Patnaik said.

In its petition, which the BJD claims is backed by around 200 pages of “solid data” explaining the “discrepancies”, the party has raised three major concerns – the “difference” in the total votes polled at the booth level and the total votes counted from their corresponding EVMs; the “gap” in the votes cast for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections despite being held simultaneously; and the “huge difference” in the voter turnout revealed by the EC on polling day and the final figures declared two days later.

“The data and analysis show there has been a machine (EVM) error, or manual error, or process error or combination of all these. Without casting any aspersions, we would like to say these discrepancies are serious in nature and undermine the conduct of free and fair elections,” the BJD petition told the EC.

On the difference between the number of votes polled and counted, the party pointed out that the gaps ranged from one vote to 784 votes in booths located in the Assembly seats of Phulbani, Talsara, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar, Titlagarh, Sambalpur and Balasore, which were won by the BJP.

“Total number of votes counted by the returning officer cannot vary from the report of votes polled by the presiding officer, especially when EVMs are used. The variance at the booth level is high enough to possibly impact the final outcome of the election, when collated across booths. These variations also raise questions about the integrity of the whole process,” said BJD leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik while speaking to The Indian Express.

On the difference in the voter turnout revealed by the EC on polling day and the final figures, which ranged between 15 and 30 percentage points in as many as 50 Assembly seats, the BJD pointed out the “unusual increase” in Keonjhar, CM Mohan Charan Majhi’s constituency, and Kantamal.

In Keonjhar, between the close of polling at 6 pm and the EC’s final figure released two days later, turnout rose by 30.64 percentage points, the BJD alleged. And between the 11.45 pm figure announced on polling day and the final figure, turnout rose by approximately 10 percentage points, the party said. Majhi won Keonjhar by a margin of 11,577 votes against the BJD’s candidate.

“This is for the first time in the history of Odisha elections, perhaps also in the country, that the reported voting percentage at the close of polling and the final voting percentage saw such a huge difference,” Amar Patnaik said.

The BJD also said it noticed “discrepancies” in the number of the Lok Sabha and Assembly voters only in the 2024 elections, though the state has been holding simultaneous polls since 2004.

Though some within the BJD are skeptical of its petition and its possible impact six months after the elections, Amar Patnaik, who had earlier served as principal accountant general in multiple states, said the party wanted to take time to collect the data.

“Our intentions are not just to make accusations without any substance. We collected and compiled data and made legal consultations before moving to the poll panel, which took time,” he said.

Amar Patnaik also alleged that the BJD candidates have not been supplied with all the copies of Form 17C by the district authorities despite repeated requests over the past three months. Form 17C records the voter turnout in every polling station of a constituency.

“We collected data from whatever Form 17C copies we had with us,” Amar Patnaik said, adding that the district collectors later said they will supply the other copies after consultations with the state Chief Electoral Officer.

BJD sources said the EC is yet to respond to the party’s petition.

Sasmit Patra, the BJD’s floor leader in the Rajya Sabha, claimed that the EC has said that whenever the BJD made a point, it has been backed by facts.

“The poll panel said that if needed they will call us again to examine the points made by the party. We hope the EC will submit clarifications on the discrepancies raised by us. The BJD will continue to take up the issue. If we don’t get a response, we will knock on the EC’s door once more,” Patra said.

Strategy to checkmate BJP?

Irrespective of the EC’s response to its allegations, the BJD appears to be attempting to checkmate the BJP, which stormed to power and formed its government for the first time despite not being seen as having a formidable organisation in the state.

Naveen Patnaik also took a dig at the BJP, whose spokesperson had come out to defend the EC after the BJD had lodged its petition. “I don’t know why the BJP is getting so excited about this matter of EVMs. Nobody has accused them of anything yet,” the former CM said.

BJD insiders said the move could help the party politically, claiming the public has “doubts” over the election process. “We have never talked about EVM tampering like other Opposition parties. We made certain observations about discrepancies, which we have already stated could be because of machine error or human error or a combination of both. Why is the BJP getting hyper whenever we raise the issue?” said a BJD leader.

Attacking the BJD over its petition, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan described the party’s allegations as “sour grapes”. “When they continued to win, the EVMs were fine. When they lost, they found faults with the EVMs. The allegations show their frustrations out of defeat,” Pradhan said.