EVMs 100% foolproof: CEC refutes Cong claim ahead of poll date announcement

As opposition parties once again raised the bogey of EVM manipulation ahaed of the Election Commission announcement on poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday said that the public has answered the questions by participating in voting.

Speaking to ANI, Kumar said "The public answers questions by participating in the voting. As far as the EVMs are concerned, they are 100 per cent foolproof. If they raise questions today again, we will tell them again."

Earlier, Congress leader Rashid Alvi claimed that EVM's could be manipulated citing the example of Israel hacking pagers of militant outfit Hezbollah.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) also alleged that the Election Commission is not acting independently and is under pressure from the BJP.

In Ranchi, JMM leader Manoj Pandey expressed his worries, said, "The election is to be announced today, but BJP leaders got information about it yesterday. This is a very serious matter. Does the commission work at the behest of BJP leaders? It is a serious matter to keep the commission as a puppet."

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha tweeted via its official X handle, "The boss has set everything up. What a scene! @ECISVEEP, will you say something?"

This statement comes as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to announce the dates for the Jharkhand Assembly elections today.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur criticised the Election Commission's timing for the elections. "When the due date for elections in Haryana was November 3 and in Maharashtra November 26, why did you not hold both of them together? When you ignore us, we feel that you make such announcements for political reasons or under the influence of a particular party", Thakur said.

"In Maharashtra, the opposition should put pressure to insist on voting by paper ballot and not EVMs. Otherwise, in Maharashtra, BJP govt and EC can do anything. If Israel can kill people by use of pagers and walkie-talkies, then where does EVM stand? The PM has very good relations with Israel. Israel is an expert in such things. EVM ka bada khel kahin bhi ho sakta hai aur uske liye BJP chunav se pehle yeh sab khel kar leti hai," Rashid Alvi said.

Last week, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh submitted a memorandum to ECI, and said he hopes that the body takes cognizance of the issue and give appropriate instructions.

Taking to social media platform X, the party General Secretary in charge of communication, wrote, "On October 9, senior Congress party leaders submitted a memorandum full of complaints to the Election Commission. Taking it forward today, we have given an updated memorandum, highlighting serious and clear irregularities in the election process in 20 assembly constituencies of Haryana. We hope that the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and issue appropriate instructions."

Congress leader Pawan Khera said that the party had sent a list of 20 seats in which the candidates had submitted their written and verbal complaints over the EVM counting votes in the Haryana Assembly elections.

Speaking to ANI, Khera said "We have sent a list of 20 seats to the Election Commission regarding which our candidates have submitted written and verbal complaints of 99 per cent battery charge. This issue was raised on the day of counting...This is a strange coincidence that the machines which displayed 99 per cent battery charge were the ones on which Congress was mostly made to lose. The machines with 60-70 per cent battery charge are the ones on which Congress won. Why did this happen?"

On the other hand, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said, "BJP and NDA are fully prepared for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections. We are confident that, like Haryana, Maharashtra will vote for a pro-incumbency government led by the BJP. The people of Jharkhand are frustrated because of the vote bank and corrupt politics of Hemant Soren, and they are eager to vote for a pro-development, pro-tribal government under the BJP.

The Election Commission will announce the poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand on Tuesday.