It is not uncommon for the Election Commission of India to face criticism, but the number of allegations levelled against the ECI has never been as high as in this poll season. Controversies, such as the one involving the shifting of EVMs to Theni and repolling in certain booths when none of the parties had asked for it, are perhaps being heard for the first time. ECI officials have denied most of the allegations and explained the rationale behind some of their actions. However, opposition parties are unconvinced and have accused the commission of failing to create an atmosphere supporting free and fair elections. Express lists the major concerns raised during polls in TN and the explanations offered by ECI officials and Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, who is the executing authority on behalf of commission in the State
Allegation: The most serious of the accusations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) was the shifting of EVMs to Theni even before the repolling was declared in some of the booths in the constituency. It was a violation of the Standard Operating Procedure since the particular number of polling booth for which the EVMs are being shifted, should be mentioned on the machine. Opposition parties too have alleged that they were not informed. As per the rule book, the agents of all political parties must be informed in case of transfer of EVMsECI stand: The agents of contestants of Theni constituency have been informed before shifting the EVMs in writing and they have signed in the registers.
There was no clandestine movement of any election equipment. Transferring election equipment is a very routine procedure and everything was done according to the rules laid down by the ECI. When the EVMs are taken to the strong room, the candidates will be informed. So, there is no possibility of replacing them. On why the EVMs were moved even before the repolling was announced, Sahoo said it was done as per the directions of the Election Commission.
Allegation: In an unprecedented lapse, EVMs were not cleared of the data before they were used for the polling. Some of the EVMs were tested on the day of polling by conducting a mock poll. But in a few booths, officials had failed to clear the data entered during the mock poll. This means the votes entered by political party agents during the mock poll, will be counted as votes ECI stand: It announced that the lapse had taken place in a total of 46 polling booths. In these booths, the VVPATs were cleared after the mock polling and only the VVPAT slips will be counted. In three of these 46 booths, repolling is being conducted. ECI came out with this information only after the controversy over shifting of the EVMs to Theni broke out.
Allegation: The unauthorised entry of a deputy tahsildar and access of the poll documents at Madurai was another major incident that created much apprehension among the opposition parties. The incident was brought to light by a police officer who was guarding the premises and spotted the official’s unauthorised entry. It is still not clear why the official entered the campus and for what purpose
ECI stand: It agreed that was a violation of rules, but maintained there was no ulterior intent. The deputy tahsildar did not access the strong rooms, but took photocopies of voter summary. The report has been sent to ECI and further action will be taken accordingly.
Allegation: Allocation of symbols for a few parties unduly delayed. For instance, Kamal Haasan’s party, though was new, was allotted its symbol much ahead of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. Party leader Thol Thirumavalavan also raised questions on why allocation of the symbol for him was delayed. The same charge was placed by the TTV Dhinakaran-led-AMMK. Even the Supreme Court observed that the commission was delaying the hearings in the case on allocation of symbol for AMMK candidates
ECI stand: Was not made public. CEO Sahoo also refused to comment when queried by Express.
Allegation: Officials whom opposition parties perceive to be favouring the ruling party were not shifted. There were several complaints against the Collectors and SPs in Theni, Madurai, Thoothukudi and Karur. There was an audio of the Karur collector threatening Congress candidate Jothimani. Also, it was reported that even the DGP (elections) Ashutosh Shukla recommended transfer of some of the police officers in key positions, but was not taken a seriouslyECI stand: CEO Sahoo said he had forwarded all such recommendations to the ECI and it is for the commission to take a decision. Commission officials have not responded to these allegations even after reports in newspapers.
Allegation: The Income Tax and flying squads of ECI mostly targetted opposition party leaders. DMK’s Thoothukudi candidate K Kanimozhi’s house was also raided just the day before the polls. Based on seizure of unaccounted cash from DMK members in Vellore, the Lok Sabha polls for the constituency was cancelled stand: Searches of the Income Tax department would not be informed to ECI in advance. The static surveillance team and video surveillance teams were not allowed to conduct searches in the houses and buildings. All searches are conducted only based on tip-offs.
Allegation: Government employees’ unions have said there was delay in completing procedures for postal ballot votes of government employees. They say it could be because of fears that they might be voting against the ruling party over failure to meet their pay revision demandsECI stand: A total of 2,61,592 postal votes were issued for government employees out of which 1,33,632 postal ballots were received as on April 24 (the data to be updated as on May 16). As far as police personnel are concerned, a total of 90,002 postal votes — from all police personnel engaged in poll duty, was received. All the information was submitted before the Madras High Court also.
Allegation: The failure of the election staff to distribute booth slips in many areas caused much confusion on polling day. It made the voters completely rely on political party workers to know their polling booth. Also, many of the voters alleged that their names are missing in the rolls
ECI stand: The voters may have been absent when the election staff visited their houses for verification or distribution of the booth slips.
Entry of dy tahsildar
While ECI has agreed that it was a violation of rules, it has maintained there was no ulterior intent. The deputy tahsildar did not access the strong rooms in Madurai, the poll panel has said
Raids onoppn leaders
ECI has said that Income Tax department would not inform it in advance before conducting searches. ECIalso says all searches were conducted only based on tip-offs