Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Former CEC, Experts Challenge Election Commission's Theory on VVPAT Failure -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Former CEC, Experts Challenge Election Commission's Theory on VVPAT Failure -Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jun 10, 2018   modified Modified on Jun 10, 2018
-TheWire.in

Former CEC S.Y. Quraishi, in whose term paper audits for EVM machines were tested and introduced, questions the failure of the system in the recent by-polls despite all-weather tests.

New Delhi:
The Election Commission on Friday declared that the reason behind the malfunctioning of a large number of voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines during the recently held by-elections to the Kairana and Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituencies was due to the “failure of contrast sensor” and “failure of length sensor” and that both these errors were “mainly caused by excessive exposure to illumination in the polling station”.

However, past and present EC officials present at a conclave on elections in India expressed surprise at this ‘finding’, since the VVPATs have undergone extensive tests under varying conditions in the past without malfunctioning.

Failure despite all-weather tests surprises former CEC

Speaking at the conclave on “EVMs, Election Funding and the Election Commission” organised by a group of retired civil servants and armed forces veterans at the Indian Social Institute here, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi noted with concern that VVPAT machines were failing despite undergoing tests in all kinds of weather conditions.

Quraishi, in whose term as CEC the testing of VVPATs had taken place from 2011 till their introduction in an election in Nagaland in September 2013, recalled how tests had first been conducted in wet and humid  Kerala, dry and hot Jaisalmer, the cold high-altitude of Ladakh, rain-soaked Cherrapunji and Delhi. He said that since many machines had malfunctioned after the first round of tests, the necessary changes were made and they were again tested in all these five different locations.

Wondering how the Election Commission was now saying that these machines malfunctioned during the polls on May 28 due to heat, he said it appeared unlikely to be the cause as these machines had been tested in the extreme heat of Jaisalmer, which was hotter than the constituencies where they are said to have not worked properly.

Quraishi for sampling more VVPAT votes after every poll

Quraishi was also of the view that when it came to VVPATs, there was a need to sample more of them after every election as the current practice of taking the count of just one polling station in every constitutency was too little. While the Supreme Court has not directed the EC on what percentage of the VVPATs should be counted, Quraishi said it would be best if the commission went for a significant percentage. “It is wrong to say that VVPAT counting would delay the results. You can always deploy more hands for the job to ensure that they too get counted by the time the electronic votes are.”

Stating that the Supreme Court has examined VVPATs, Quraishi said the EC only has to operate them. He also suggested that the winner-loser or other contestants should be allowed to select a few machines at random for tallying VVPAT votes.

EC assured testing of all 18 lakh VVPATs will be by in-house engineers

The former CEC also noted that it was the EC’s decision to go for VVPAT machines and that the Supreme Court had only asked the Centre to release adequate funds for them. He said that  with 18 lakh machines to be operationalised ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections, people were also wondering how they would be tested and if the job would be outsourced. “But the EC has assured me that all the testing would be done by in-house engineers, who too would be randomised for the machines.”

Please click here to read more.

TheWire.in, 9 June, 2018, https://thewire.in/government/experts-challenge-election-commission-on-vvpat-failure


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close