Verification of EVMs used in Kolathur constituency under way after M.K. Stalin’s petition to Election Commission

The checking and verification of the burnt memory and microcontroller of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in 14 polling booths in the Kolathur Assembly constituency is under way following a petition filed by defeated DMK candidate and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin before the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Mr. Stalin lost the constituency to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate V.S. Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes.

Acting on Mr. Stalin’s representation, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G.S. Sameeran, who is also the District Election Officer, wrote to the DMK leader requesting him or his authorised representative to be present during the verification process. Mr. Stalin is being represented by senior advocate N.R. Elango. The verification is being carried out at Chintadripet.

In his petition, the DMK candidate alleged that the votes expected to have been polled in his favour were not recorded in these 14 polling booths.

Verification in other districts

Mr. Sameeran said similar checking and verification of EVMs were under way in a few other districts, including Kancheepuram, Virudhunagar, and Sivaganga. He said the facility was available to candidates who had secured one of the top three positions in a constituency, with verification being carried out for up to 5% of the EVMs used.

“We are checking and verifying the EVMs used in 14 polling stations selected by the candidate in the Kolathur constituency. The exercise will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the ballot unit, control unit, and VVPAT of two polling stations will be verified. The authentication is being carried out under the supervision of engineers from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL),” he said.

Mr. Sameeran said the representatives of the candidates were shown the votes polled by each candidate as recorded in the burnt memory, and no discrepancies had been found.

“In the second phase, a mock poll involving a minimum of 500 votes and a maximum of 1,400 votes will be conducted. The entire exercise is intended to verify the authenticity of the EVMs,” he said.

The checking and verification process will continue for seven days.