Adding fuel over apprehensions expressed by the opposition parties in towards poll results in Maharashtra, economist and husband of union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Dr Parakala Prabhakar pointed out over 8 percent of votes surge after close of polling, which was said to be crucial in getting `unexpected’ results.
According to him, the surge has never crossed 1 percent. For example, he said that in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP’s tally in the state came down from 62 to 33, the increase was less than 1 per cent — which has historically been the case in all previous elections across the country.
In an interview with Karan Thapar for the Wire, he recalled that when polling officially closed in Maharashtra at 5 p.m. on 20 November, Prabhakar said that the provisional polling figure (rounded off) given out by the Election Commission was 58 per cent, which went up to 65 per cent at 11:30 p.m., and did not stop there.
Three days later on 23 November, hours before counting started, the final polling figure was put at over 66 per cent. The total increase in percentage terms was 7.83 per cent — which meant that almost 76 lakh voters cast their votes in the state after polling officially ended. This unfortunately raises suspicion of malpractices and leads to speculation, casting doubts on the electoral process, he added.
He also said that this has become a pattern of polling in several other states or constituencies also.In the 10 districts in Haryana where the BJP won 37 of the 44 seats, the average increase in polling was 10 per cent. In the remaining 12 districts where the BJP won 11 out of 46 seats, the increase was much less.
The manual of the Election Commission of India states that slips should be handed out to every voter still in the booth, waiting in the queue to vote, at the time of close of polling. The last person in the queue should receive a slip with the number ‘1’ while the voter at the top of the queue would receive the slip with the total number of voters still waiting to cast their vote.
The manual also states that videography of the voters in the queue must be maintained to prevent subsequent manipulation or infiltration of voters. However, despite several attempts, said Parakala Prabhakar, the Election Commission of India has consistently stonewalled all enquiries, refusing to acknowledge memorandums submitted by citizens and civil society groups. The Commission has also consistently refused to share the slips or video footage to dispel doubts.