EVMS COMPLIANT WITH THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK, EC TELLS CONGRESS
Aditi Agrawal
NEW DELHI: The current Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS) in use in elections comply with the legal framework strengthened by successive Union governments, the Election Commission (EC) told Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday in the backdrop of multiple letters sent by members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc raising concerns about the integrity of the machines.
The 28-party INDIA bloc had submitted a memorandum to the poll body on August 9, 2023 raising questions over the use of EVMS and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATS). The bloc followed it up with four letters in the same month seeking a meeting with the EC. On December 30, Ramesh sent a letter to the EC on the issue and sought a meeting.
The EC responded to Ramesh on Friday. “It is stated that current EVMS in use in Indian election are compliant to the extant legal framework created and strengthened by the successive Union Government of the day and jurisprudence evolved over more than 40 years by the Constitutional Courts of India. Anything beyond existing legal framework and established jurisprudence is beyond the singular domain of the Commission,” the letter signed by principal secretary Pramod Kumar Sharma said.
The EC also recently updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) section on EVMS on its website from 76 to 85 to answer some of the questions, but did not address the specific concerns raised by the parties.
The additional FAQS answer some of the questions about properties of the VVPAT slips, why and when they were included, tracing the origin of the VVPAT slips, and what happens when the VVPAT or the control unit are run out of battery during voting.
Anirban Guha Roy
PATNA: Bihar’s four-party ruling coalition is close to sealing a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, three leaders aware of developments said on Friday, making it the potentially the first state where members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) are on the verge of resolving an issue that can prove thorny across India.
Of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, 17 each are likely to be allotted to the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the two big players in the coalition. The Congress is likely to get five seats and the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation is likely to fight one seat, said the leaders quoted above.
“The 17:17:5:1 ratio of seat allotments is the cardinal formula, which has been worked out. Further talks on candidates and other issues are being worked out,” said a senior RJD leader, adding that the seat arrangement was almost final.
The final announcement could be made by the end of January, said a senior RJD leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
A second senior leader of the Grand Alliance said the formula was worked out in the Mukul Wasnik-led national alliance committee (NAC) of the Congress after discussion with leaders from the JD (U) and RJD on Thursday.
Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that a proposal on seat-sharing was discussed before the committee.
A Congress leader aware of the development said the RJD would take the lead in allocating seats to the Congress and the Left, by getting 23 seats in its quota, and leaving 17 for the JD(U).
“The RJD would decide its seats for alliance partners, including the Left. This has been done to ensure no hassles in last-minute adjustment while deciding the seats where alliance partners will contest,” he added, requesting anonymity.
Leaders in the Grand Alliance said some more rounds of talks will be held before the seat deal is announced, likely by the end of January after a proposed virtual meeting of all 28 parties in INDIA.
If the seat pact holds, it will mark the first success of INDIA bloc in hammering out a seat arrangement in a major state at a time when similar negotiations have proven to be fractious in other states -- such as neighbouring West Bengal, where INDIA partners Trina
HT mool Congress and the Congress have openly clashed over the issue.
Seat talks are considered the core objective of the 28-party INDIA bloc, which hopes to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party by ensuring a one-on-one battle on each Lok Sabha seat in this year’s general elections. But cracks have appeared in the alliance over seat-sharing in several states.
The Opposition will be looking to halt the BJP’S juggernaut in Bihar, where the National Democratic Alliance won 39 of the 40 seats in the 2019 elections. At that time, the JD(U) was in alliance with the BJP and fought 17 seats, winning 16.
A second RJD leader said that the seats to be contested by the RJD, JD(U), Congress and CPI (ML) had been identified and discussion will soon start. There could be some tweaks based on winnability, he added.
The RJD contested 20 seats, leaving one to Cpi-ml(liberation); the Congress contested nine seats, the Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) and Vikassheel Insan Party contested three seats each and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party fought five. Only RJD, Congress, Cpi-ml(liberation), CPI and CPM remain in the alliance, while HAM(S) and Kushwaha have moved to the NDA. The RJD won zero seats and the Congress one.
On the NDA side, the BJP won all 17 seats it contested. Six were won by the unified Lok Janshakti Party, which has since split into two factions.
A senior JD(U) leader said the formula was ideal for the alliance in Bihar.
“The JD(U) has a genuine claim on 17 seats as in the last Lok Sabha election in 2019, it contested 17 seats and won 16 seats. The RJD has been in alliance with Congress and Left from the beginning and JD(U) has entered the alliance later. It is natural we get seats based on our last performance,” said the JD(U) leader, requesting anonymity.
JD(U) chief spokesperson KC Tyagi did not give details of the formula. “I will not comment on it now,” he said.
Bihar Congress chief Singh said seat-sharing proposals were discussed in NAC. “We must understand, there is a new party in the alliance, JD(U) which was part of the NDA in the last parliamentary polls. We have adjusted for them,” he said.
CPI-ML( liberation) state secretary Kunal, however, said his party didn’t know of any such formula. “We have a strong base in Bihar and we cannot settle for one seat,” he said.
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