Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) Maharashtra’s opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and some NGOs will organise a seminar on Saturday on the alleged misuse of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Vidya Chavan said on Wednesday.
Chavan said “experts” tried to demonstrate before Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and party leader Aaditya Thackeray how EVMs could be “misused”.
A similar demonstration was held before state NCP (SP) president Jayant Patil on Tuesday, Chavan said.
The development comes after the MVA alleged manipulation of EVMs in the last month’s Maharashtra assembly polls where the opposition was routed.
The opposition has squarely blamed EVMs for their poor performance.
“A seminar will be held to demonstrate how EVMs are misused on Saturday (December 14),” Chavan said.
The event will be attended by Aaditya Thackeray and NCP (SP) MLA Uttam Jankar.
Jankar is the MLA from Malshiras in Solapur district. The Markarwadi village, where a section of residents demanded voting through ballot papers instead of EVMs, is part of the Malshiras assembly segments.
Chavan said in January, a press conference regarding the “misuse” of EVMs is likely to be held in Mumbai. The press meet will be attended by Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, she added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Kulkarni has asserted EVMs are tamper-proof and there was no possibility of hacking them.
In an interview to PTI, he said, “These machines are standalone devices with no external connectivity, making hacking impossible. The chip in EVMs is one-time programmable, ensuring no changes can be made. Strict security and administrative protocols further prevent any tampering.” The new Checking and Verification (C and V) procedure mandated by the Supreme Court allows candidates to request verification of specific EVMs and VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) if there are suspicions of malfunction, the IAS officer noted.
A VVPAT is connected with an EVM through a printer port, which records vote data and counters in a paper slip to verify the correct recording of vote by the machine.
“I want to emphasize the reliability of EVMs,” Kulkarni added. PTI PR RSY
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