NewDelhi: As Delhi Assembly election dates were announced, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar addressed a few concerns on the electoral process. He tackled questions such as, Why did voting percentages go up after 5 PM, EVM tampering allegations, and what amounts of people actually voted?
Promising a thorough investigation into the claims, Kumar challenged critics to give specifics on voting percentage increases after 5 PM. He also defended concerns about voter turnout mismatches and the charge of deliberate slow vote counting.
With elections taking place across India, the scale of the electoral process in this country comes down to the fact that there are about 10.5 lakh polling booths across the country manned by 4-5 polling officers, the CEC pointed out. If you factor in the combined numbers here, it comes to 45 to 50 lakh people who are performing an election task, all being local to their place of work and possessing assorted skills.
Kumar said that he was concerned by the nature of the questions, which appear to imply widespread malpractice on the part of polling staff. He praised questioning in a democracy but made the point just as emphatically that answers were needed as well.
In a poetic flourish, Kumar recited a couplet: “All questions are important; answers are due.” Today a face-to-face response will be perfect as we habitually respond in writing. Today an answer is fitting; who knows if we will be here tomorrow?
According to the Election Commission, the schedule for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025, with polling set to take place on 5 February and results to be declared on 8 February.
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