No EVM-VVPAT mismatch found, says Maharashtra's chief election officer amid Opposition's allegations

Amid the Opposition battling for 100 per cent counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips and allegations about a vote mismatch in the recently held Maharashtra assembly election, the state's chief election officer on Tuesday said that no mismatch was found in any of the VVPAT slips matching with their related electronic voting machine (EVM) numbers.

In April this year, the Supreme Court had rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using electronic voting machines (EVMs) with VVPAT.

The VVPAT is a vote verification mechanism that enables voters to see whether their votes have been recorded correctly by way of a slip that is briefly visible after the EVM button is pressed.

“In all 288 assembly constituencies, a total number of 1,440 VVPAT machines were counted on the same day of counting, which was 23rd November, and there was no mismatch found in any of the VVPAT slips matching with their concerned EVM numbers,” the chief election officer of Maharashtra said in a statement.

On Monday, Nanded district administration verified 75 VVPAT machines with votes on EVMs and found no difference in the tally.

Nanded District Collector Abhijit Raut said the counting of votes at 75 centres in the district, 30 Lok Sabha and 45 assembly, was flawless.

After the Maharashtra assembly election results, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday called for 100 per cent counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail slips.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole has urged the Supreme Court and the Election Commission to take note of the "growing public demand" for ballot paper voting in view of "doubts" about the mandate in assembly elections.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has upped the ante against EVMs after the BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking to revert to paper ballot voting in elections in the country, saying allegations of tampering with EVMs raked up only when people lose polls.

"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs are not tampered with. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale.