Fix it with data

Ever since results of Assembly elections in five States came in on Saturday, leaders of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Aam Aadmi Party, Mayawati and Arvind Kejriwal respectively, have been alleging manipulation of the electronic voting machines (EVMs). The Election Commission has rejected these allegations stating it takes enough precautions to prevent any tampering.

Proving EVMs have been tampered with may be close to impossible. However, shifting back to paper ballots is no solution to curbing manipulation of the voting process or the casting of illegal votes by agents of a political party. Nor are paper ballots the most efficient way to conduct elections in a country where over 830 million people are eligible to vote. Counting would spill over into several days. Holding re-elections in a entire State as large as UP, for instance, which has 144 million electors, many of whom are internal migrants who travel home to vote, only because a losing party apprehends manipulation is not the best way to deal with such concerns.

Political parties should rely on data to prove wrongdoing or abuse of power to fix election results. Each party has its polling agent present at every booth to keep track of every voter coming to the booth. They have precise information of the number of votes cast in each polling station and constituency. Totalling up the number of legitimate votes cast in each constituency and comparing it with the official data of voter turnout should be the first level of checking to ascertain if any party has attempted to fix the results. Mere suspicion, without supportive evidence, is not reason enough to cry wolf or even demand re-election in an entire State. Seeking a re-poll in constituencies where there’s evidence of vote tampering would be a more sensible demand.

Senior Deputy Editor

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