PRAYAGRAJ: Samajwadi Party (SP) office bearers and workers created ruckus on Mandara Mandi premises on Wednesday when some voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips were found in a box. In Kaushambi, SP workers stopped the official vehicle of the district magistrate and checked it thoroughly before allowing it to enter the vote counting site.
However, the situation was diffused after immediate action was taken by district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri, who met the agitating SP workers and assured them that the slips were nothing but old VVPAT slips printed by the electronic voting machine (EVM) prior to the polling.
A SP worker alleged that she saw a person deployed on election duty carrying a box. When she called him, he abandoned the box and when it was opened, some slips were found. On getting the news, many SP workers started arriving at the Mundera Mandi, alleging that the district administration was indulging in malpractice to give advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and help it win the elections.
“On getting the news, we rushed to the place and after examining the entire situation, I told the agitating SP workers that the slips that they had found were in fact ‘testing slips’, which are generated when the engineers of EVM readies the machine for the polling, days ahead of voting,” said the DM told TOI.
However, district president of SP, Yogesh Chandra Yadav, asked if the slips were old and had nothing to do with polling, what was the reason for bringing the same on the counting premises. “Such acts raise serious suspicion and I have informed the party’s top official about the incident.”
Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballot-less voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.
Prior to declaring the EVM ready for polls, the engineers checked the machines meticulously and even printed some VVPAT to check every aspect of the machine’s working.
Meanwhile, wary SP workers in Kaushambi even stopped the vehicle of district magistrate/district election officer Sujeet Kumar near the counting site New Bath and allowed it to proceed further only after completely checking the vehicle to rule out any attempt to rig the votes, hours ahead of the counting begins from 8am on Thursday.
The incident took place around noon when the officer arrived at the site to oversee the preparations of the counting and SP workers instead were allowed to check the vehicle. The DM allowed the SP workers to look inside his vehicle to their satisfaction and only then proceeded ahead.
However, the situation was diffused after immediate action was taken by district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri, who met the agitating SP workers and assured them that the slips were nothing but old VVPAT slips printed by the electronic voting machine (EVM) prior to the polling.
A SP worker alleged that she saw a person deployed on election duty carrying a box. When she called him, he abandoned the box and when it was opened, some slips were found. On getting the news, many SP workers started arriving at the Mundera Mandi, alleging that the district administration was indulging in malpractice to give advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and help it win the elections.
“On getting the news, we rushed to the place and after examining the entire situation, I told the agitating SP workers that the slips that they had found were in fact ‘testing slips’, which are generated when the engineers of EVM readies the machine for the polling, days ahead of voting,” said the DM told TOI.
However, district president of SP, Yogesh Chandra Yadav, asked if the slips were old and had nothing to do with polling, what was the reason for bringing the same on the counting premises. “Such acts raise serious suspicion and I have informed the party’s top official about the incident.”
Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballot-less voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.
Prior to declaring the EVM ready for polls, the engineers checked the machines meticulously and even printed some VVPAT to check every aspect of the machine’s working.
Meanwhile, wary SP workers in Kaushambi even stopped the vehicle of district magistrate/district election officer Sujeet Kumar near the counting site New Bath and allowed it to proceed further only after completely checking the vehicle to rule out any attempt to rig the votes, hours ahead of the counting begins from 8am on Thursday.
The incident took place around noon when the officer arrived at the site to oversee the preparations of the counting and SP workers instead were allowed to check the vehicle. The DM allowed the SP workers to look inside his vehicle to their satisfaction and only then proceeded ahead.