After repeated allegations and claims of EVM tampering by many major opposition parties, it is being said by several major political analysts that the Supreme Court should have allowed VVPAT verification in order to avoid all the chaos and mudslinging.
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Analysts say Election Commission should put doubts to rest
Many analysts are now saying that since it is not just one single party anymore, and in fact almost the entire Opposition alleging EVM tampering, dismissing it as merely a case of the parties crying foul because they lost is dangerous to the very fiber of the democratic functioning. It is being said that despite there being no valid proof of any tampering, the EC should demonstrate that no EVMs have been tampered with, thus putting these doubts to rest once and for all. It is also being said that this is not people questioning the Election Commission or the Election Commissioner, but the electoral process and it’s authenticity as a whole.
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The internal civil war within the Election Commission has definitely not helped matter, and almost every major national and regional party with the exception of those allied with the BJP are now claiming EVM tampering.
The demand for VVPAT verification started after the UP elections
After the allegations against the machines first started rolling in during the results of the UP state elections in 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered the Election Commission to verify the VVPAT votes of any 5 randomly selected EVMs in all constituencies. However, opposition parties such as the INC claimed that this was not enough, and filed a petition for 50% of all EVMs to be verified. This petition was rejected by the Supreme Court, saying that it would cause unnecessary and undue delays in the declaration of results. This led to the Opposition parties continuing to blame all their losses on the EVMs. Therefore, many are now questioning whether it would not have been better to allow this verification, to put a rest to these blames once and for all.
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The results of the elections are scheduled to come out on the 23rd of May 2019, and most exit polls confirm a second term for Modi.