<<VFD, apart from pointing out some glaring loopholes in the election process, has made three significant assertions.
One, it has claimed that the difference between approximate votes polled shared by the ECI on polling days at around 8 pm and the final voter turnout is nearly 5 crores. “…4,65,46,885 to be precise,” a report released by VFD said, contending that the sharp increase in the number of total votes cast doubts on the fairness of the election process. The VFD said that the figure was arrived at after a careful reading of “phase-wise extrapolation in number of votes”. The report claimed that while in the previous elections, the percentage increase between the estimated voter turnout on the evening of the polling day and the final turnout was approximately 1%, in the 18th Lok Sabha elections the variation was in the range of “3.2% to 6.32%” across all the seven phases. It said that the figure was a “staggering 12.54% in Andhra Pradesh and 12.48% in Odisha”, even as the cumulative average of the increase in the final voter turnout is 4.72%. ECI has, so far, not been forthcoming with any credible reasons for the hike,” the report said. Two, the VFD claimed that the sharp increase in the final voter turnout was greater than the margin of victory of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 79 seats across 15 states, many of which were narrowly won by the NDA candidates. The report said that 79 seats included 18 in Odisha; 11 in Maharashtra; 10 in West Bengal; seven in Andhra Pradesh; six in Karnataka; five each in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan; three each in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana; two in Assam; and one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Kerala. The VFD, therefore, urged the ECI to allay the doubts and lay out reasons for the sharp hike in voter turnout transparently. Three, the report also claimed that the NDA candidates won by very thin margins in 18 seats across 10 states. In all these constituencies, serious concerns were raised by both civil society members and opposition candidates regarding alleged malpractice and EVM malfunctioning during voting and the counting process. Some of these seats include Saran in Bihar, Mumbai North-West in Maharashtra, and Farrukhabad, Bansgaon, and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh where NDA candidates won by razor-thin margins. The report goes on to point out various incidents of voter suppression, EVM malfunctioning, contentious transfers of important officials in opposition-ruled states during the elections, alleged misconduct of returning officers, unattended complaints raised by the opposition and similar doubts raised during the election campaign by many observers. The VFD report was authored by former bureaucrat M.G. Devasahayam and activist Dr. Pyare Lal Garg. The VFD was founded by activists Teesta Setalvad, Dolphy D’Souza, Father Frazer Mascarenhas and Khalil Deshmukh.>> *This write-up, however, does not indicate the total number of seats decided by thin margins out of these 79 seats and the distribution of winners between the two main contending alliances. NDA has won 18. INDIA: how many?* Apart from that, while the charges of* "incidents of voter suppression, EVM malfunctioning, contentious transfers of important officials in opposition-ruled states during the elections, alleged misconduct of returning officers, unattended complaints raised by the opposition and similar doubts raised during the election campaign by many observers" *are very serious ones, these are, however not the same as that of EVM hacking or something of that nature. *That's* *very* *significant*. In any case, *the ECI must clear the air expeditiously! It is morally obligated to do so.* *If it doesn't, then the Supreme Court must be approached with all the relevant numbers and facts.* Sukla On Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 08:26 Devasahayam MG <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://thewire.in/government/lok-sabha-polls-sharp-spike-in-final-voter-turnout-greater-than-thin-victory-margin-for-nda-in-79-seats > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZhRLq8QasBbbjC6Gp%2BcnZz%2Bek_t7Z9BSXT%3D9q0wPXN0CQ%40mail.gmail.com.
