'Malfunctioning' EVM gave votes to BJP confirms Maharashtra Collector in RTI reply

A case has emerged of an EVM malfunctioning in Maharashtra. According to RTI activist Anil Galgali,  elections held on Feb 16 for the Buldhana Zilla Parishad polls from Lonar at a polling station in Sultanpur village showed the machine 'malfunction'.

He told IANS: "Everytime the voter pressed a symbol of Coconut, allotted to a candidate, the LED lamp of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Lotus used to flash. This was reported to the District Collector by the Returning Officer (RO) in his inquiry report and furnished under an RTI query."

The activist filed his query on June 16 after learning of the aggrieved candidate's complaint. Galgani further said: "The Buldhana collectorate's election department replied that at polling station No. 56 in Sultanpur of Lonar town, when the voter pressed the Independent candidate No. 1's Coconut symbol, the LED lamp flashed against the BJP candidate No. 4's Lotus symbol, signifying that the vote had gone to the latter."

He went on to state that when candidate Asha Arun Zore lodged her complaint around 10:30 AM , no action was taken but later on around 1:30 PM, after more complaints poured in, the officer took action. 

After talking to all candidates, officer Manikrao Bazaar took cognizance of the complaints and informed polling station in-charge Ramnarayan Sawant, who informed the RO, Lonar of the incident.

Assistant RO of Lonar personally visited the station and verified that pressing a particular candidate's button was leading to candidate four's (BJP) vote button glowing. The election was cancelled, the malfunctioning machine was sealed and a standby unit was put into operation. 

A repoll took place after five days, the RTI revealed. 

Gangli further said: "This case conclusively proves an 'EVM fraud'. It was brought to notice by a voter, confirmed by many other voters, the RO and other officials also reconfirmed it and sent a report to the Collector. In order to avoid such repetition in future, the EC must consider alternatives to the EVMs which can be tampered with."

After the declaration of assembly poll results of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, some parties had raised concerns over the credibility of EVMs used by the EC and had alleged tampering of the machines during the elections.
In April, 13 parties had met the Commission and had urged it to revert to the old ballot paper system. After an all- party meet on the issue, the poll panel had organised a challenge to tamper with its EVMs. But no political party took part in the June 3 challenge.