22 opposition parties meet ECI, demand verification of VVPAT slips before counting

May 21: In a significant development, leaders of 22 opposition parties met the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday and demanded that the verification of VVPAT  (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) slips of randomly identified (05) polling stations should be done prior to the initiation of counting of votes and not after the completion of last round of counting.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “The Supreme Court said five random VVPATs should be counted, but the EC has said that counting will be done first and then VVPATs will be counted. We have said – let them count the five first, so that if there is a problem, we can then count all of them before it is too late.” The Commission has said they would take a call on the issue on Wednesday morning, said Congress’s Abhishek Singhvi.

Earlier during the day, the Supreme Court dismissed a PIL seeking 100 per cent matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with EVMs. Demanding fairness in elections, the leaders of the 22 parties who signed the memorandum addressed to the ECI said they represent the voice of 70 percent of the electorate of the country.

The opposition parties said they are seeking transparency and fairness in the counting of votes and respecting the mandate of the people of the country. The delegation also flagged the movement of Electronic Voting Machines in five states – videos of which surface this morning — saying it reinforced their concerns about tampering. Clips of cellphone videos showed movement of the EVMs in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Election Commission has said the movement is routine. Negating the opposition’s claim of tampering, the Election Commission had said parties tended to blame the EVMs whenever they lost an election.