The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday said there was no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls.
The statement came days after the Congress filed a complaint with the poll panel in which it alleged serious and grave inconsistencies in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls.
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In a statement, the Office of the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) stated that it is mandatory to count VVPAT slips of randomly selected five polling stations per Assembly constituency as per the guidelines of the poll panel.
Accordingly, VVPAT slip count of randomly selected five polling stations per Assembly constituency was conducted on 23rd November during the counting procedure, in front of the Counting Observer / representatives of candidates, it said.
“As per that, slip count of 1440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra has been tallied with respective control unit data. There is no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs. Due procedure laid by ECI has been followed,” the CEO said.
Notably on 3rd December, a delegation of the Congress-led by senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi met the poll panel and expressed their concerns on alleged arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent additions, and inexplicable increase in voting percentages in Maharashtra polls.