The Congress on Wednesday slammed the Election Commission for rejecting the demand of major opposition parties for 100 per cent counting of VVPATs in case if even one of them did not match with the selected sample and said the EC has lost its credibility.
Reacting to the EC decision, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporoters that the poll body's decision has not been formally communicated to them and that they were not hopeful of getting any detailed reason from for the rejection of their demand.
He said Election Commission means "Eradicated Credibility" and EVMs have become "Electronic Victory Machines" for BJP.
"Our demands were rejected by the EC and we have not been formally communicated. In the 15-20 orders of rejection that we have got not more than 4 lines have been used to give explanation or reason. We are also not hopeful of getting any reason from the Election Commission," said Singhvi.
"You are mandatorily obliged to count 5 VVPATs-EVMs in one assembly segment. We said it should be done at the beginning and not at the end of the counting process. There is no rocket science in it, logically it should be done at the beginning and not after 5, 7, 10, 14 rounds of counting. When all the results are informally known, then sample check makes no purpose," said Singhvi.
"Twenty three parties represent 75 per cent of the electorate. Even if EC disagrees with our demand they should have accepted it for confidence building and maintaining their credibility," he said.
He said that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has become " Modi Advertisement Conduct" and Election Commission has lost its credibility.
"Is it because 'Chunav Achar Sanhita' has become 'Modi Prachar Sanhita'? Won't you do anything for the credibility of EVMs? Will you make EVMs 'Electronic Victory Machines' for BJP? Is it because EC stands for 'Enfeebled Commission', 'Eradicated/Eliminated' Credibility'?" he asked.
"I read out "VVPAT slips have been counted due to either non-display of result from the control unit or under rule 56 D of conduct of polls rule or whatsoever 'the reason shan't be included in draw of lots for mandatory verification of VVPAT slips'.What's the reason?" he added.
"56D says it applies at the instance of a candidate who demands a check and should not apply for VVPAT-EVM tally. We are left to speculate why EC has done this," he said.
The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the demand of opposition parties which sought to tally of VVPAT slips for an entire assembly segment if even one of the five samples does not match with votes polled in EVMs.The current provisions say five randomly-selected EVMs will be verified in each assembly segment with the VVPAT slips
The decision comes a day after leaders of 22 opposition parties, led by TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, met EC officials and alleged discrepancies in EVM machines. They also demanded that the EVM-VVPAT tally should be done at the beginning of the process of counting.
( With inputs from ANI )