When the elections were underway, Opposition leaders in India claimed that EVMs were rigged or were programmed in such a way that votes were directed to BJP or their allies, but two day ahead of the results and two days after the exit polls, the Spooked opposition has come up with a new charge, ‘EVM swapping’. Claiming reserve EVMs machine are being transported to EC strongrooms.

Shashi Tharoor
‏’I trust the Election Commission is looking into this and can provide a satisfactory explanation?’

Tejashwi Yadav
‘Visuals and claims of sudden movement of EVMs observed across the north India! Why is it so? Who is transporting these EVMs & Why? What is purpose and objective of this exercise? In order to avoid any confusion & misconception, Election Commission must issue a statement ASAP.’

A delegation of 22 Opposition parties led by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chandrababu Naidu met the Election Commission and even submitted a memorandum with five demands.

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Demand one: verification of VVPAT slips of randomly identified (05) polling stations should be done prior to the initiation of counting of votes and not after the completion of last round of counting.

Demand two: If any discrepancy is found anywhere during the VVPAT verification, 100% counting of paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that assembly segment should be done.

Demand three: clarification over what is the procedure to be followed If there is any mismatch

Demand four: clarification over what action will be taken in case of malfunctioning during counting of votes.

Demand five: requested deletion of ‘no question of recount of votes’ clause

Election Commission later came out and dismissed all the charges made by the opposition.

ELECTION COMMISSION ‘Election Commission of India would like to emphatically and unambiguously clarify that all such reports and allegations are absolutely false.After the close of polls, all polled EVMs and VVPATs are brought under security cover to the designated strongrooms, which is sealed with double locks, in the presence of the candidates and in the presence of Observers of the Election Commission. The entire process of storage and sealing of the strongroom is covered under videography. Continuous CCTV coverage is done till completion of counting. Each strongroom is guarded with round-the-clock security by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).’

Even the ruling party slammed opposition over their charge

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister
‘EVM is good when Mamata Banerjee became West Bengal chief minister twice and Amarinder Singh became Punjab chief minister. If they win, EVM is good. But when there is expectation that we will win because people of this country want Narendra Modi to be prime minister again, then EVM is unreliable.’

Many are questioning the rationale behind this development, with several wondering if opposition will stick to this stand if the results are in their favour.