Election Commission Clears EVM and VVPAT Doubts, Confirms Accurate Results in Maharashtra Assembly Polls

The ECI on December 10, 2024 reacted to allegations by opposition parties over the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The Commission clarified that the results in all the 288 constituencies for Maharashtra Assembly elections were correct. It said that 1,440 votes earlier used for tallying had been correctly matched with both the VVPAT slips and the data of the EVMs and no discrepancy was found.

According to ECI norms, slips from five randomly chosen booths in each assembly constituency are counted and cross-checked. On 23 November, the Election Commission carried out the counting of VVPAT slips in the presence of election observers and representatives from the candidates' side. In these slips, data from the control units of the EVMs were cross-checked; it was found that there were no discrepancies.

In response to the opposition parties' allegations, the ECI reiterated that its procedures were followed strictly. This clarification came just a day after the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which comprises parties like Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP led by Sharad Pawar, boycotted the special session of the Maharashtra Assembly on the day of the oath-taking ceremony.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray had earlier also blamed the Election Commission for giving its handover to the misuse of EVMs in the state assembly elections. It thus cast doubts on the legitimacy of EVMs, particularly in those constituencies where opposition parties were looking for a better outcome.

More than 20 opposition party losing candidates had raised grave concerns regarding the voting machines' credibility. They raised issues of apparent discrepancies between the votes cast and declared results, especially in areas they were expecting to perform strongly.