In an interview to ThePrint, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora says EVMs are here to stay, and that technicalities delayed counting in MP.
New Delhi: Weeks after being appointed the chief election commissioner (CEC), retired IAS officer Sunil Arora spoke to ThePrint on several issues regarding electoral processes in the country, from allegations of EVM tampering, fake news on social media platforms to the EC’s powers to de-register political parties. Here are some edited excerpts:
What have been the significant takeaways from the recent state elections?
The recently-concluded state elections demonstrated the strength of the electoral process in the country. Its outcome was acceptable to all stakeholders, signifying continued trust in the commission. It also demonstrated the capability of the electoral machinery to perform in a free, fair and transparent manner.
Specifically, it was noticed that in Madhya Pradesh, in about 250 of the 66,000 EVMs taken up for counting, the presiding officers had not followed the Close-Result-Clear (CRC) protocol after the mock poll done in the morning of the polling day. This meant that the result of these particular EVMs had to be obtained through the counting of the VVPAT slips.
Most assembly constituencies had one to two such cases, which meant that after the last round of the counting, an additional round was done for the counting of the VVPATs slips in the CRS cases. This added an hour to the counting process.
To redress the issue, focused training is being devised.
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Can we see future elections being held through ballot papers?
No. The ballot paper is a thing of the past. The EVM is merely a machine, which is unduly being maligned. You had elections in the country in May, you had an X result, you had elections in Delhi after five to six months, you had a Y result.
In the last year, you have had elections in Karnataka, Gujarat, Himachal, plus these five, and so many by-elections; you have had all kinds of results. The EVM is ultimately a tool, a machine, not a voter. So why have we made it a national pastime to blame the EVM?
What were the reasons behind the delay in declaring the election result in Madhya Pradesh, and what is the EC doing to ensure that during Lok Sabha polls the results are declared in a timely manner?
Objections relating to EVMs: Right from the first round of EVM counting at 8.30 am, the candidates were very particular about checking and examining every seal, tag and the serial number of the EVMs and their cases being brought to the counting tables.
In several cases, they raised trivial objections on the seals, serial number/tag number, signatures of polling staff on the tags, etc that required the intervention, explaining and convincing by the returning officer, the district election officer and observer before these EVMs were taken up for counting.
Even though no EVM was kept aside or found tampered amongst the 66,000 EVMs taken up for counting, the process of objections slowed down the rounds.
In the run-up to the legislative assembly elections 2018, Madhya Pradesh added about 13,000 (21 per cent) additional polling stations as compared to the previous elections. This has increased the average number of rounds of counting to 22 whereas states such as Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana had 18 to 19 rounds.
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Any specific measures that EC plans to take to plug loopholes based on recent experiences?
It has come to the notice of the EC that in some past instances the representatives of political parties were forced to wait for a long period at the EVM warehouse venues for witnessing the opening of EVM-VVPAT warehouses, arrival and storage of machines and subsequent sealing of the warehouses. This delay was primarily due to the late arrival of EVM/VVPAT carrying trucks due to various reasons such as traffic congestion, en-route transportation issues etc, which caused inconvenience to the political parties.
The EC has taken note of these cases and has already directed that all movement of vehicles carrying EVMs/VVPATs is tracked through GPS and the warehouse opening should be scheduled keeping the arrival time and expected delays in mind.
The EC has in the past asked for powers to de-register political parties if they violate provisions of the Constitution. How can the EC take this forward?
This has not so far come up in the commission. I’m not very sure under what circumstances the commission asked for this right. But I’m also not very sure if the commission should be getting into the business of becoming an arbiter of political parties.
I would not like to arrogate this right to the commission. All depends on what we collectively decide but so far this issue has not come up.
The theme of your 2018 elections was accessible elections? How has the experience been and what are the new initiatives that the EC is planning?
The commission is committed to making elections accessible to all, with a specific focus on persons with disabilities and senior citizens.
The theme for 2018 National Voters Day was accessible elections. Now we are mapping, polling-station wise, people with disabilities so that we can extend facilitation to them for registration and at the polling station.
The challenge is that the polling stations are housed in government buildings under the jurisdiction of various departments and the onus is on them to make these buildings accessible.
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What are the new initiatives planned for elections in 2019?
Unlike 2014, in the 2019 elections, VVPATs will be used along with EVMs in all assembly constituencies to enhance the transparency and credibility of the elections.
All-women managed polling stations shall be set up in one polling station for each assembly constituency where the entire polling staff, including the police and security personnel, shall be women.
What are some of the measures that you plan to take to curb fake news on social media platforms?
It is an area of concern but should be utilised as an area of strength — make use of the reach of social media to spread messages for the benefit of the electoral system and processes that help the voters and other stakeholders and clear misconceptions rather than spread misinformation.
Facebook, Google and Twitter representatives have met the EC committee constituted to look into provisions of Section 126 of the RP Act 1951 and promised that they are committed to ensuring healthy use of the social media platforms and will follow the laws and instructions in this regard.