After Panipat, Karnal authorities reject Cong leader’s conditions for EVM checks

Tribune News Service

Karnal, August 21

Two days after facing disappointment over his plea for EVM re-verification in Panipat, Congress candidate Divyanshu Buddhiraja — who had contested the Lok Sabha elections against former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Manohar Lal Khattar — faced a similar setback in Karnal as the district administration refused to entertain his three conditions for the process. The administration stated that his requests were not in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Election Commission of India. Budhiraja will now approach the Supreme Court for the EVM re-verification as per his requests. Meanwhile, Budhiraja requested the Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer to safeguard these EVMs till the decision in the Supreme Court.

Three conditions of BUDHIRAJA

• Congress leader Divyanshu Buddhiraja, who had contested the Lok Sabha elections against former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Manohar Lal Khattar — had put up three conditions for EVM checking with the DC.
• These were resetting the date of EVMs to the polling day – May 25, uploading the symbols of political parties instead of dummy symbols and display of the result slip with timing on the control unit as per the original voting day. However, these conditions were rejected.

Budhiraja had put up his three conditions for EVM checking with the DC. These were resetting the date of EVMs to the polling day – May 25, uploading the symbols of political parties instead of dummy symbols and display of the result slip with timing on the control unit as per the original voting day. However, these conditions were rejected.

Budhiraja argued that it was a standard procedure to adjust the date and time settings on the machines, questioning why officials were reluctant in doing so. “Since the election was contested on party symbols, the verification process should be done as per the party symbols. The result slip timing on the control unit should be displayed,” said Budhiraja.

“I will approach the Supreme Court for proper verification of these EVMs,” said Budhiraja.

After the results were declared on June 4, Budhiraja approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) on June 10, demanding reverification of the burnt memory/microcontrollers of EVMs at four booths – two in Karnal (booths 137 and 181) and two in Panipat (booths 18 and 48). The verification process was conducted on August 19, but it could not be completed due to conditions requested by Budhiraja.

Karnal DC Uttam Singh said that the Congress leader’s requests were not as per the technical SOPs of the Election Commission of India. “We will send our report to the Election Commission,” he said.