India

EVM: Opposition parties meet EC, Pranab Mukherjee also expressed concern

Just two days before the results of the Lok Sabha elections announced in India on 23rd May, the leaders of 22 opposition parties met the members of the Election Commission and apprised them of their complaints related to EVM machines.

Talking to the media after meeting the members of the Election Commission, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that all the opposition parties have put their concerns in front of the Election Commission regarding the reports of tampered with EVM machines.

He further said that during this visit, all the opposition parties also demanded to match the votes on May 23, as well as match the voter varied paper trail (VVPAT) slip.

Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We had two thick demands. One should select five Random Polishing booths in each Lok Sabha area and VVPAT slips should be counted along with EVM machines. It should be the first and if any mistakes in VVPat of any one booth come out, then the entire counting of that Lok Sabha constituency should be done again. "

Talking about the response of the Election Commission, he added further, "The Election Commission said that he will hold a meeting in this matter and then take a final decision. The Commission heard our suggestions and concerns openly and also assured to take a decision on this. "

At the same time, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, while questioning the Election Commission, said that the Opposition parties have been raising the issue for the last one and a half months, but the EC ignored their objections.

Among the news of alleged tampering with EVM, former President Pranab Mukherjee has appealed to the Election Commission to ensure its institutional credibility.

Pranab Mukherjee has issued a statement on Twitter saying that he is worried about the news about the safety of EVMs.

He said, "The EVMs in the Election Commission's custody are the responsibility of their security commission. There should be no room for speculation challenging democracy. The public's decision is at the top and there should be no doubt about it. "

Pranab Mukherjee has written that he believes in the institutions of the country. He wrote, "How any organization works, this decision is made of those working there. In this case, the responsibility of ensuring institutional reliability is on the Election Commission. They should do this and all such speculation should be stopped. "

After election results, all the opposition parties were united to explore the possibility of forming a non-NDA government.

In the meeting, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot of Congress along with Telugu Desam Party's Chandrababu Naidu, Satish Chandra Mishra of Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Sitaram Yechury of CPI (M), D Raj of CPI, Chief of Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Trinamool Congress's Derrick Aubryan, Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav, DMK's Kanimozhi, National Janata Dal's mind H Jha, Indian Congress Party Majid Memon, Devinder Rana National Conference.

While stating the tampered reports of EVM machines being baseless, the Election Commission said that EVM machines used during the elections have not been tampered with.

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Difficult to Trust Exit Polls

In India, the path of withdrawal of NDA government is being shown in exit polls conducted by various survey companies and news channels, but in addition to the opposition parties, political analysts are also seeing this analysis beyond reality.

According to the experts, in the last few years, exit polls of Uttar Pradesh and other states and Lok Sabha elections have been too far away from reality, therefore, it is difficult to believe how accurate these times are.

Subhash Mishra, political editor of Times of India, in Lucknow, says that considering the trends seen on the ground, these numbers of seats are not realistic.

He says, "On the basis of the way in which there is ethnic and regional diversity in the way of voting and trends, it is very difficult to guess the seats accurately. Most exit polls are showing a one-sided result in favor of the BJP, which is not possible. As much as I have seen and understood on the ground in UP, I can say that the coalition will do well."

Although in some exits, the SP-BSP-RLD alliance has been shown quite a bit in Uttar Pradesh, but in most of them either its strong struggle with the BJP is being seen or BJP is being shown very much ahead.

Subhash Mishra says that the elections that were held in three states recently, most of the exit polls were not there too, so it is not okay to believe too much.

Not only this, most analysts also consider the reason behind the diversity of their own exit polls as a reason for their process and their consequences.

Senior journalist Amita Verma has so far covered several elections. She says, "The exit polls who used to come initially were very close to reality. The reason for this was that they were largely followed by those procedures which are adopted in Cefology. If their results are not coming right now, then one of the main reasons is that most of the exits are sponsored and in such a situation, there should not be any hope for the right results."

Amita Verma also believes that whatever she has seen during Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, it does not appear in these exit polls.

She says, "In view of the way in which the votes have been transferred between SP and BSP, the coalition has been very strong. Yes, it is also true that the way in which the BJP was being talked about of a big loss, it will not be so. But trusting on exit polls is a bit difficult."

Senior journalist Shravan Shukla, despite seeing the atmosphere in favor of BJP in UP, is unable to trust exit polls.

He says, "Take a look at the 2017 assembly elections. No one had said that BJP would win by such a large majority. Though there was a lot in favor of the BJP on the ground, but why pre-election survey did not see so many seats. The estimation of these surveys does not look much different than the individual estimates of the people. Actually, the process that is adopted in these surveys does not recognize the ground reality. Uttar Pradesh's voter is quite mature. He does not clarify his tendency in such a hurry. And in this election of time, this thing has been specifically seen."

In fact, there are many journalists covering the electoral process at the grassroots who have their own opinions on election results, but these people too are not able to put their trust in exit polls too.

Shravan Shukla says that how much difference is there in pre-election surveys, which is enough to say that it is not followed in any one of the usual process.

Shravan Shukla says that the results of Exit Polls can not be considered at all in the context of UP.

He says, "This whole game is just the TRP of the channels, nothing else besides. The way in which the absolute majority governments have been formed in the 2007, 2012 and again 2017 Assembly elections, it has dismissed all election surveys. Even in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, I do not think much about the results of election surveys should be trusted."

However, on these social media, these surveys are being discussed fiercely and people are evaluating their own way. Together, this advice is also being given that there are two days left in the actual results.

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