EVM controversy: Winners endorse it while losers complain

Looking back at the allegations of EVM tampering in elections

The results for state Assembly elections were announced on 11 March, but the controversy over EVMs refuses to die. On Saturday it was a trending topic on social media once again, leading to claims regarding its tamperability. Earlier, the government had rubbished claims about EVM tampering and had promised all support to the Election Commission's endeavour of maximising the use of voting machines with paper trail, but in a phased-manner as reported by Business Standard.

The opposition had demanded in the Rajya Sabha the early implantation of a 2013 Supreme Court order that requires each electronic voting machine to have a voter verified paper audit trail, or VVPAT.  

But charges of tampering with EVMs are not new. Here is a reminder of old allegations of EVM tampering:

The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party have been questioning the poll results, claiming that EVMs were rigged with Mayawati and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leading the charge. Outgoing Uttarakhand's Chief Minister Harish Rawat, also supported BSP supremo's claims. Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav said the suspicion of rigging EVMs wasn't on the Election Commission but the government of the day.  

However, this is not the first time that doubts regarding EVMs have been raised. 

In 2009 Lok Sabha Elections, similar claims were raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party, after it was humbled by the Indian National Congress and managed only 116 seats. Its Prime Ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani had asked to swtich over to ballot papers instead of EVMs. He, however, did not raise questions on rigging of EVMs but raised doubts on its malfunctioning. 

The then national spokesperson of saffron-party, Ravi Shankar Prasad, had echoed similiar sentiments.  

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eiwe41MMLY

BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra also pointed to a 272-page document authored by current BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao and published after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, whose preface was written by L K Advani, to point how even the BJP had once asked for a review of the use of EVMs.

While Mishra demanded that the UP polls be annulled and said even the paper audit trail wasn't foolproof in a country like India with high illiteracy, others like Janata Dal (United)'s Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury stressed the need for a paper trail.

Also Read: A needless controversy: Govt should procure paper trail machines for EVMs
 

The BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy had filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court alleging that EVMs were vulnerable to rigging, and demanding a paper back-up of the EVM vote. 

After party’s loss in Odisha Asssembly elections 2009, Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had alleged EVM tampering by Biju Janata Dal's workers.

Recently, the Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena had alleged of possible tampering and manipulations by BJP in the EVMs in the recent elections to 10 Municipal Corporations and 25 Zilla Parishads in Maharashtra.

The only thing common in these allegations is that the ones making them, lost the polls.