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politics

and said the EC will neither be “in-
timidated or bullied or pressurized or
coerced” into giving up them up.
At the EC’s behest, the Delhi Police
has registered an FIR against Shuja
under IPC Section 505 (whoever makes,
publishes or circulates any statement,
rumour or report. ECIL, the same day,
issued a statement denying Shuja was
ever on its rolls. The company said he
had never been associated with the
design and development of EVMs in
ECIL between 2009 and 2014.
Despite the official denials, Shuja’s

ECI has maintained
that EVMs are
tamper-proof, and
that VVPATs provide
an additional layer
to guarantee that
voting is accurately
captured. It has
also urged parties
to refrain from
expressing doubts
about their efficacy

refused to upset the status quo. Arora, Chief Election Commissioner claims led to political parties, like the
A bench headed by Chief Justice (CEC) said that “the position has been BSP and SP, questioning the credibil-
Ranjan Gogoi did not agree with the consistently maintained by succes- ity of EVMs. BSP chief Mayawati even
contention of NGO ‘Nyay Bhoomi’ that sive Commissions and the same will be appealed to the EC to revert to the ballot
electronic voting machines are capable maintained in the future. In the ballot system while the BJP and JD(U) backed
of being misused and they should not paper era, there used to be innumer- the continued use of the EVMs.
be used in the polls to ensure free and able complaints about impersonation Reacting to the developments
fair elections. However, CJI said that and booth-capturing by anti-social over the week, Arora said, “This is very
every machine is capable of being used elements and musclemen, besides the unfortunate. Let us take recent history.
and misused and doubts will be there inordinate delays in declaring results. ” We had the type of result in the 2014
with every system. At the same time, Arora made this observation while Lok Sabha elections. But we had totally
the Bench ruled that the current system delivering the keynote address at an different results a few months later in
is satisfactory. international conference on ‘Making Delhi state elections. My simple ques-
Armed with Supreme Court judg- our Elections Inclusive and Accessible’ tion is that why if the result is ‘X’, EVM is
ment rejecting the plea to use ballot hosted by the Commission. Speaking at right and if the result is ‘Y’, EVM is fault-
papers, the Election Commission made the inauguration of the international ed? Why have we made it like a football
it amply clear that it would not be “in- conference, Arora reiterated the Com- and doing a motivated slugfest over it?”
timidated, coerced or pressurized into mission’s faith in electronic voting
going back to ballot paper days. Sunil machines and paper trail audit units letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 february 2019 29 www.Tehelka.com