NEW DELHI: Amidst the controversies and allegations on the functioning of EVMs and the paper trail machines, the election commission on Friday said that a probe has found that machines used during a demonstration exercise for a Madhya Pradesh bypoll were not tempered.
The poll panel had sent the probe committee to Ater constituency of Bhind district after media reports claimed the vote went to the BJP, irrespective of the button pressed on the EVM, during the demonstration. The team in its report concluded that “it is completely false to say that at multiple times, slips of lotus were printed on pressing different buttons during the demonstration.”
"The team has found no anomaly or tampering in EVM and VVPAT used during a demonstration in Ater (Bhind) on March 31," a statement issued by the poll panel said. It said during the demonstration, four buttons of ballot unit BU were pressed and corresponding symbols were displayed.
The probe concluded that the EVMs used in the demo in Bhind was not brought from Uttar Pradesh.
However, the VVPAT used in the demonstration was brought from UP. Since the VVPATs are limited in number and had been used by all the poll going states during the last 5 states elections, the distribution of VVPATs for 10 states by-elections was made by the Commission by allocating VVPATs from different poll-gone states to different poll-going states, the probe report said.
"The accuracy of the functioning of the EVMs and VVPATs including the said EVM/VVPAT is beyond doubt," the report said.