New Delhi: A delegation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) met the Election Commission Tuesday and suggested an independent audit of the poll process and monitoring by citizens in the wake of allegations of irregularities levelled by the Opposition parties.
The regional party from Odisha, which had last year complained about alleged “unusual variances” in the votes cast in the 2024 Parliament and Assembly elections in the state, submitted a second memorandum on the issue to the poll panel.
The BJD leaders said the Election Commission should conduct a periodic “process audit” of the entire election exercise by independent auditors or the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and make its report public as is being done in several countries where democratic elections are held.
They also urged the poll panel to develop a mechanism for involving citizen groups to co-monitor the election process from inception to the end, and to formulate a mechanism for conducting a concurrent audit during polling at the booth level as well as during counting to ensure trust in the election process.
The BJD, which suffered defeat in the last elections, also suggested tallying all VVPAT slips with the EVM count in every booth using advanced counting machines.
While complaining that they have not received copies of Form 17C from all booths in Odisha, BJD suggested that a 30-day time limit should be put in place for District Election Officers to furnish copies of Forms 17C Part I & II as well as all VVPATS to any citizen on payment of prescribed fees.
The memorandum, which sought to follow up on the memorandum submitted to the EC in December last year, said they had not received any reply from the Commission on the issue.
Party leader Amar Patnaik, however, told reporters that a response from the EC was received by them on Monday night, and the party has not gone through it in detail.
“A cursory glance suggested a mechanical reply to a very grave concern raised by us,” he said.
With the issue of duplicate voter ID cards being raised in Parliament by the Congress and the TMC, BJD leaders said they are in agreement with the concerns of the opposition parties, adding that the suggestions given by them may be helpful in this regard as well.
“The BJD is in agreement on this issue. When we ask for an end-to-end process audit, periodic revision and addition and deletion in voter roll should also be monitored,” said Patnaik.
The party had first raised the issue in December last year and had also approached the poll panel raising concerns over “unexplainable” variances in the votes cast in recent polls in the state.
The BJD had claimed serious discrepancies have been found between Form 17-C filled by presiding officers, and Form-20 filled by returning officers during the assembly and Lok Sabha polls last year.
They also said discrepancies were found in the number of votes polled in assembly constituencies and corresponding Parliamentary constituencies across all 21 seats though voting had occurred simultaneously for state and general elections.
They had said the variations ranged from 4,056 votes in Dhenkanal to 3521 votes in Kandhamal and 2701 votes in Bolangir.
PTI
