CHENNAI: A day after DMK filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court against the placement of VVPAT in between the balloting unit and the control unit in third generation EVMs, DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi and DMK MP NR Elango told reporters that the Election Commission of India has to clarify the doubts of the political parties. DMK has raised suspicion about the symbol loading unit (SLU) installed in the VVPAT units.
“Till now, the input signal from the ballot unit was saved in the control unit. Now, the ECI has decided to place VVPAT in between the balloting unit and control unit, and a new unit called symbol loading unit is installed to feed symbols to the VVPAT printer. It is the root cause that paves the way for other possibilities,” Elango said.
“It is not the symbols alone that are fed to the printer. The sequential numbers in the order of candidates in the constituency which match with each of the particular symbols are also fed to the VVPAT. This process happens a few days ahead of the actual polling. VVPAT, control unit and ballot are being subjected to randomisation. However, SLUs are not subjected to randomisation and also the company which manufactures them fixes them to the EVMs a few days ahead of the polling date. So, when a voter casts his vote, the signal for this is reaching the control unit only through the SLU in the VVPAT. Naturally, this raises suspicions,” Elango explained.
Elango also pointed out that in second generation EVMs, the VVPAT used to be placed after the control unit. Now, the vote cast first reflects in the VVPAT and then the signal reaches the control unit through the SLU. Both Bharathi and Elango said the appointment of two BJP-related persons as directors of the company which manufactures the SLU units has given rise to all suspicions.
“ECI has to clarify the doubts,” they added. Asked about the remedy sought by DMK, Elango said, “The balloting unit and the control unit should be connected directly as done in second generation EVMs.”