What if BJP wins 370 and INDI-Alliance lodges 740 complaints…
By Sushil Kutty
“Supreme Court dismisses all petitions seeking 100% verification of VVPAT slip,” did not come as a shock. By the time the top court declared the verdict “reserved”, the jolt was a spent force. The big news was the Electronic Voting Machine was here to stay and the top court broke the pen on the ballot paper with a hanged till death verdict.
All petitions asking for 100 percent verification of votes cast on EVMs via Verifiable Paper Audit Trials were dismissed. The court noted that “blindly distrusting the poll process” was a fool’s errand and would lead to “unwarranted suspicion.”
Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta pronounced judgment even as EVMs did yeomen service in the second phase of polling on April 26 across 88 parliamentary constituencies in 13 states.
Should we call this a triumph of democracy? Justice Khanna stood out. Against ballot paper voting. Against complete EVM-VVPAT verification. Against giving VVPAT slips to voters. “We have rejected all of them, after referring to the protocol in place, technical aspects and data which is on record,” Justice Khanna said.
Justice Dipankar Datta concurred with his fellow Justice-in-arms. Earlier, the bench had reserved an order stating, “we cannot control the Lok Sabha election…” Where do things stand now? The bench ordered that the Symbol Loading Unit should be stored at least for a period of 45 days after the results are declared for complaints to be lodged.
On receiving a written complaint, the burnt memory in the microcontroller EVM will be scrutinized by company engineers if 2nd and 3rd ranked candidates demand this within 7 days of the declaration of results. It should be a written request, which shouldn’t pose a problem.
But problems will surface if losing candidates flood the Election Commission with complaints galore. When, if the BJP wins 370 seats, and 370 2nd ranking candidates, bolstered by 370 3rd ranking candidates, file individual complaints each and demand that the “culprit EVM” be checked and declared “clean”?
The process will involve checking the burnt memory semicontroller in 5 percent of the EVMs. That is, the Control Unit, Ballot Unit, and the VVPAT per assembly constituency per parliamentary constituency, shall have to be checked and verified by engineers from the EVM manufacturing company.
Can this lead to delays in Lok Sabha and government formation? What if checking reveals numerous cases of EVM tampering? The Election Commission of India might have to wait for at least 7 days, the time given to register complaints, before stating emphatically if this or that party/formation won the elections.
Till then, the country will be on tenterhook and distrust will have a field day. Meaning if a big number of complaints are registered by 2nd and 3rd ranked candidates, the results declaration process will be derailed. And even after the engineers have checked the burnt memory, doubts will remain as to whether Modi won or Rahul Gandhi lost. The credibility of the results will be in tatters. All hypothetical, of course, but cannot be ruled out. Casting doubts on the EVM is not the only way to hijack the election process. Justices Dipankar Datta and Sanjiv Khanna have provided another means to question election results and persist with it.
If all the ‘370’ seats that Modi’s party BJP wins is disputed, the legitimacy of Modi’s victory can be questioned. All it requires is for a bunch of “candidates 2 and 3″ to lodge complaints against dubious EVMs and demand they be checked by company engineers.
They can, if they want, ride roughshod over election results and Justices Khanna said Datta would be mute spectators. Expenses for verification, which have to be borne by the complaining candidate, would hardly be a deterrent as politicians are usually all well-off people.
Even erstwhile ‘Chaiwala’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a ‘crorepati’ many times over, a rags-to-riches story nobody hardly talks about; his wardrobe itself costing a King’s ransom. So funds will not be an excuse for not lodging complaints. And if checking reveals EVM tampering, the process worked.
So, once the symbol loading process in the EVM is completed, the Symbol loading units will be sealed and stored in containers. Candidates and representatives will sign on the sealed containers to be kept in store rooms with the EVMs at least for 45 days after the results are declared. In the meantime, 2nd and 3rd ranked candidates can have a go at the results declared if they or their parties want it.
The thing to note is if the Modi party BJP wins 370 seats, opposition INDI-Alliance will be able to lodge complaints and demand EVM checking, but, if INDI-Alliance wins 300 seats, Modi’s party BJP will not be able to lodge complaints without facing credibility problems because the BJP has been all along saying that EVMs are flawless and should be trusted with Modi’s life. (IPA Service)