A delegation of BJD leaders submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission on Monday, flagging “differences between the total votes counted in the booth and the total votes counted from the same EVM” in some cases during recent elections in the state.
“We have noticed serious discrepancies… For example, in booth number 57 of 84-Phulbani (ST) AC under Kandhamal PC, the difference is 682. In booth number 165 and booth number 219 of 08-Talsara (ST) AC in Sundargarh Under PC. , the differences are 660 and 784 respectively…” BJD’s petition said.
“How is this possible? This should not be the case as the total number of votes cast by the returning officer cannot be different from the report of votes given by the presiding officer,” he said.
The BJD also showed a difference in votes for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, even though the elections were held simultaneously. “The difference is from 4,056 votes in Dhankanal PC to 3,521 votes in Kandhamal PC and 2,701 votes in Bolangir PC,” the BJD petition said.
The party is trying to find out whether the people are voting at 11:45 pm on the polling day at 11:45 pm and the final statistics that will be released two days later.
Regardless of whether the problem is in the machine, in the process or in the manual, the party has requested the commission to take this issue seriously and answer all the points in the interest of democracy and transparency.
Did this mean the BJD was on the same page as the opposition Bharat Bloc, which has expressed concern over the EVMs and the discrepancy between the real-time voter count and the commission’s final data, asked delegation member Amar Patnaik and the state. Assembly MP Sasmeet Patra said the party has independently evaluated the documents. The BJD memorandum had nothing to do with the demands of the India bloc, they said.
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