CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered that votes polled in EVMs should not be counted in 44 polling booths in the State, instead, only VVPAT vote-slips should be taken into account while counting the polled votes.
The decision was taken by the ECI in the backdrop of the revelations that the presiding officers in 47 polling booths failed to clear the votes polled during the mock polls conducted an hour ahead of polling in elections to the 38 Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats on April 18.
Sources said the scrutinisation of records revealed that VVPAT vote slips deposited during mock polls, had been cleared in 44 booths and matched with the records maintained by the returning officer and poll observers, with respect to the total number of votes polled in each booth.
“In two booths in Theni and one in Erode, voters’ record has not matched records captured both in EVMs and VVPATs. In addition to 10 booths for which repoll is already recommended, three booths will face repoll on May 19,” Sahoo said on Thursday.
"In addition to 10 booths for which repoll is already recommended, three booths will face repoll on May 19,” Sahoo said on Thursday.
The official documents released by the ECI have revealed that in Panchayat Union Elementary School booth in Thirumangalam of Erode Parliamentary constituency, the presiding officer had conducted a mock poll with 50 votes and not cleared the data before commencing the poll. During the closure of the polls, it confirmed that vote difference was 41 instead of 50. Since the ECI could not ascertain the reason for discrepancies in nine votes, it has decided to go for repoll.
Similarly, two booths in Theni Parliamentary constituency – Kammavar Swaraswathi Middle School in Balasamudram, Andipatti and Sankaranarayana middle school in Vadugapatti, Periyakulam – also face repoll. While the vote slips of mock polls had not been cleared in VVPATs at the polling booth in Balasamudram, repolling was ordered in the Vadugapatti booth because of violation of the Close Result Clear protocol.
“The EVMs and VVPATs have been changed without following the due procedures and the election official could not ascertain whether the electors cast their votes in replaced EVMs. Repoll will be conducted for Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies,” revealed the official documents.