Akshata Sharma
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Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday took a dig at those raising questions on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) saying the EVMs should be left to rest until the next elections as they are to be readied to be abused again in the upcoming polls.
Addressing the media on the allegations of EVM tampering, Rajiv Kumar said for the past 20-22 elections, a similar tradition has been followed where EVMs were accused of being tampered with, and their credibility was always questioned. But in the end, they have always shown the results.
"The results of EVM are in front of everyone. Why to accuse that poor fellow? Let it rest for a few days. Let EVM rest till the next election. Then it will come out, then its battery will be changed, then its papers will be changed. Then it will get abused again, but will deliver good results. It has been showing similar results since the last 20-22 elections, the government keeps changing," news agency ANI quoted Rajib Kumar as saying.
The poll body chief also said that perhaps the EVM was born at a time when it had to be accused and criticised regularly. But it is very reliable; it has become neutral in every way and does its work," he added.
The opposition has been at loggerheads with the Election Commission over the credibility of the EVMs. The Supreme Court had earlier refused to entertain a petition regarding the conduct of elections using ballot paper by setting aside Section 61A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, saying that more than 10 cases have been examined on various issues related to the functioning of EVMs by the court time and again.
Meanwhile, the CEC, along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, presented the notification constituting the 18th Lok Sabha and the list of newly elected parliamentarians to President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"A copy of the notification issued by the Election Commission of India, in terms of Section 73 of the Representation of People's Act, 1951, containing the names of the members elected to the House of the People following the General Elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, was submitted by them to the President," it said.
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