Chhattisgarh assembly polls: Congress seeks vote counting through VVPAT slips, moves HC

By Vijay Singh Thakur
RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh Congress has moved the high court seeking counting of votes through VVPAT slips in all the 90 constituencies where counting is scheduled for December 11.
State Congress general secretary Girish Dewangan filed the petition in which he expressed serious apprehension about the EVMs safety and possibility of irregularities.
Petitioner’s counsel Satish Verma told TOI that the petition, filed under article 324 of the Constitution, came up for mention hearing in the court of justice Prashant Mishra, who will now take up the petition for hearing on December 10.
Dewangan told TOI that the party moved the court to ensure that the guidelines of the Election Commission are strictly followed with regard to EVMs, which have been kept in safe custody ever since polling was completed in two phases on November 12 and 20.
The petition said the EVMs used for polling and additional EVMs should be kept separately in the strong rooms in 27 districts. Besides, the petition also sought a direction to ensure that the outcome of every round of counting must be announced or declared before taking up the next round for counting. Besides, all the complaints against officials and others for violation of poll code of conduct and election guidelines, filed so far, needs a thorough investigation and appropriate action.
The Congress has referred in its petition all its complaints filed with election authorities, pointing out that there were many suspicious activities and incidents that could have affected security of EVMs kept in strong rooms.
Citing an example, the petition mentioned that a tehsildar, two patwaris and two technicians had entered and stayed inside a strong room in Dhamtari district while CCTV camera was found switched off at the strong room in Durg district.
Besides, the Congress has also mentioned the details of technical snags that developed in EVMs on the polling day in many constituencies.