EVMs used in DUSU polls may have been procured privately

The Delhi Election Commission on Thursday said that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls do not belong to it and appear to have been procured privately by the university.

The clarification came following reports in the media concerning "glitches" in EVMs which led the authorities to stop the counting process for some time.

"With reference to the caption being shown in some news channels regarding use of EVMs in the elections of DUSU...it is to inform that the EVMs in question is not of Election Commission," the Delhi poll panel said in a communication to an official of the Election Commission of India.

It said that "no such EVMs have been allotted/ issued to Delhi University by this office".

In its clarification, the Commission also said: "It was also confirmed from the State Election Commission that no such machines have been given by them, too."

"It seems that the Delhi University had procured these machines privately."

The Commission said a detailed report in this regard will be sent subsequently as all officials of the Delhi University are currently busy in the election process.

Counting for the DUSU polls was stopped by the election committee due to a "glitch in EVMs" following which supporters of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS)-All India Students' Association (AISA) alliance raised slogans against the university authorities demanding resumption of counting.

An official from the Delhi University's election committee confirmed that the EVMs for the DUSU polls were procured from a private vendor as the Delhi Election Commission refused to allot them the machines.

--IANS

rak/nir