Maha Polls: Election Commission Says No Mismatch in VVPAT and EVM Data, Opposition Not Convinced

New Delhi: With the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) continuing to allege discrepancies in the recently-concluded Maharashtra assembly elections, the Election Commission on Tuesday (December 10) said that it has found no mismatch between the votes polled on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the corresponding tally of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in random counting.

“As per that, slip count of 1,440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra State has been tallied with respective control unit data. There is no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs (district election officers). Due procedure laid by ECI has been followed,” it said in a statement, reported The Indian Express.

The Election Commission said that VVPAT slip count from five randomly selected polling stations from each assembly constituency was conducted on November 23.

However, opposition parties reiterated their allegations of discrepancies in the polling process and questioned the statement of the Election Commission.

“A press statement issued by the EC on their social media handle and other mode of communication without the signature of the State Election Commissioner itself raises more serious questions than the answers,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.

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