BMC Candidate's Claim He Got Zero Votes That Triggered EVM Debate Turns Out To Be False

The BMC candidate’s claim that he got zero votes, not even his, which fired up debate on EVM reliability, has been nailed as false.

Shirkant Shirsat, an independent candidate who had contested the BMC polls had claimed that he got zero votes despite his family and him voting for himself.

Speaking to the The Indian Express, Maharashtra’s deputy election commissioner Avinash T. Sanas said 34-year-old Shirsat was a registered voter at two polling booths and that he “hasn’t got ‘zero votes’ at either of the two polling booths.”

In his complaint to the state election commission (SEC), Shirsat, who contested from ward number 164 in Saki Naka, had said that other candidates from his ward were mulling approaching the court against 'malpractices' in counting of votes.

The Express report says sources within the SEC told them that the independent candidate had managed to secure 44 votes in all. He secured 11 votes at booth 29 and two votes at booth number 15; where he was registered as a voter.

“So his claim that his own vote and that of his family and neighbours disappeared is not true,” an SEC official told the newspaper.

According to the Representation of the People Act, a person cannot be enrolled as a voter in two constituencies or at more than one place in the same constituency.

“I voted for myself, so did my family members. But when counting of votes was completed, it showed that I had polled zero votes. This looks suspicious,” said Shirsat to the media in February.

Subsequently, hundreds of defeated candidates and workers of various political parties barring BJP staged a symbolic funeral of an electronic voting machine, claiming that they had been rigged.

“We are also demanding a re-election,” said Rupali Patil of MNS, who lost to a BJP candidate. Datta Bahirat, a defeated candidate from Congress, had said they had evidence about rigging of EVMs.

Following that, the Aam Aadmi Party took up the cause in recent weeks after an EVM reportedly malfunctioned ahead of the Bhind by-poll in Madhya Pradesh and only cast votes for the BJP. Reports said that the EVM had been used in the Uttar Pradesh polls earlier.

An all-party meeting convened by the Election Commission to discuss the reliability of the EVMs -- an issue flagged by opposition parties -- got underway in New Delhi this morning.

Days before the proposed meet, the Aam Admi Party had staged a demonstration on hacking a 'voting machine' in the Delhi Assembly. The party had used an EVM prototype to make the demonstration. The EC had trashed the AAP's claim, saying the 'machine is a look-alike and not the ECI-EVM'.

At the meeting, the Commission is expected to seek views of political parties on the proposed challenge it plans to throw to hack its EVMs. The date of the proposed challenge would be decided after the all-party meeting.

All the seven national and 35 of the 48 state recognised political parties are attending the meeting. A detailed presentation on electronic voting machines' security features will be made by the EC top brass to prove that the machines are tamper-proof -- a fear raised by the opposition parties.

Some parties have demanded they be allowed access to the machines used in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Sixteen opposition parties had recently told the Commission that it should revert to the paper ballot system, claiming that the faith of the people has "eroded" in the machines.

Several parties, including AAP, BSP and Congress had blamed tampered machines for the victory of BJP in the recently-held assembly polls.

Disqualifying candidates named in a charge sheet for bribing voters, making electoral graft a non-bailable offence and easing of rules to order counting of votes through paper trail are some of the other issues Election Commission will discuss with political parties tomorrow.