Telangana polls: EVMs pass stage-1 test, no maladies reported

Hyderabad: There were no discrepancies reported in EVMs anywhere during the ongoing stage-I verification in the presence of representatives of political parties in the districts. The verifications are being conducted by the Election Commission to clear doubts on the functioning and accuracy of EVMs. Opposition parties have been alleging discrepancies in EVMs for long saying that they were being tampered with to benefit ruling parties.

However, during verification, officials allowed party representatives to cast 16 votes on each EVM and the results were verified on the spot. All the EVMs showed accurate results and all political parties expressed satisfaction over their accuracy and functioning. In Hyderabad, the verification was conducted at the indoor stadium of the Victory playground at Chaderghat. Representatives of political parties apart from district election officers were called for the inspection where the modern M3 EVMs touted as tamper-proof were being inspected.

As part of the stage-I inspection, mock polling is conducted on every EVM by casting 16 votes, in the presence of political party representatives. Four rows of 10 tables were laid for inspection in Chaderghat to enable verification of 700 EVMs every day. Scrutiny is also being done with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, which are being used for the first time in the state for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Seals of the EVMs and control units, cable connection, power display, removal of the data related to earlier polls, and other aspects are being verified during the process. Scrutiny is carried out by engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited. No mobile phones are being allowed inside the inspection zone for security reasons. A special tracking software is being used which helps the ECI to know information about the process of inspection.

With this, the chief electoral officer and district election officer would also get minute to minute details of the process through webcasting and surveillance by CCTV cameras. The EVMs will be randomised after the first stage of  inspection so as to make it impossible to trace them to polling stations. The feedback received from the districts indicates that there were no discrepancies in EVMs.