Opposition parties have raised concerns over reports of alleged tampering of EVMs and asked the Election Commission to ensure transparency in counting. (Photo: Getty)

After a 38-day marathon, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections came to end on May 19. And the results for the general elections will be out on May 23.

The period between the two dates has been just as dramatic.

With polling coming to an end on May 19, multiple news platforms released their exit poll predictions. One thing was clear -- the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is winning with a thumping majority if the exit poll results hold true.

India Today-Axis My India exit poll has predicted a massive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA with PM Narendra Modi back at the Centre. For the NDA, the India Today exit poll has predicted 339-365 Lok Sabha seats.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), on the other hand, may just manage 77-108 seats, India Today-Axis My India exit poll said. A seat-by-seat exit poll 2019 result has also been announced.

Other exit polls have also predicted similar results.

As the BJP celebrates the projections, the opposition has categorically denied, rubbished and brushed them aside. The opposition has chosen the occasion to hit out at (a) exit polls for being inaccurate historically and (b) electronic voting machines (EVMs) being replaced to make exit poll predictions come true.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called exit polls "gossip", Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that exit polls have been wrong in Australia so they could be wrong in India too. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the exit poll numbers were rumours meant to undermine the spirits of party workers.

I believe the exit polls are all wrong. In Australia last weekend, 56 different exit polls proved wrong. In India many people don’t tell pollsters the truth fearing they might be from the Government. Will wait till 23rd for the real results. Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 19, 2019

In the meanwhile, many alleged that the exit poll numbers which show a significant win for the BJP were meant to be a smokescreen. The exit poll predictions would justify the results that came when EVMs were rigged or replaced by the ruling government, went the claim. The allegation first came from Aam Aadmi Party candidate Raghav Chadha.

Adding fuel to the fire were multiple reports of EVMs being mishandled across the country days before the election results were to be announced. Several videos of EVMs being stored and moved from one unauthorised storage house to another surfaced on Twitter. While some machines are seen stored at local shops, others are seen stacked in the boot of private vehicles.

Another EVM video. This one is from Haryana

pic.twitter.com/BZBLwKdJHT Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) May 21, 2019



A truck filled with EVMs in Godda, Jharkhand. (Screengrab from Twitter)

As the videos of alleged movement and tampering of EVMs went viral on social media, workers of various parties held protests in Ghazipur, Chandauli and Dumariyaganj, alleging that EVMs were being "moved around" outside strongrooms.

Without any comment, an EVM video from Chandauli, UP.

pic.twitter.com/Gmwj638mdo Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) May 20, 2019

Amid protests, leaders of as many as 22 opposition parties met the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday and demanded verification of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips of randomly selected polling stations before the counting of the votes polled in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election begins on May 23.

Referring to the allegations and complaints, the Election Commission said it would like to "emphatically and unambiguously" clarify that all such reports and allegations are "absolutely false and factually incorrect".

But how true are these allegations?

1. Do exit polls lie?

An election exit poll is a survey of voters that is conducted immediately after the voting is over. But it's important to note that this is, ultimately, just educated crystal-ball-gazing and not necessarily the writing on the wall.

All exit polls come with a disclaimer that they are mere predictions about the pulse of the nation's electorate. In fact, exit polls have been famously wrong in the past world over. That, however, does not discount the fact that they have also been right. They are, after all, based on representative samples.

2. Can EVMs be hacked?

There is no conclusive answer to this question. While several attempts have been made to prove that electronic voting machines can be hacked, none of them have been conclusive.

EVMs in India just register the buttons pressed by the voter. They do not have an operating system of their own, hence there is no software that one can hack remotely. Also, these machines are not connected to the internet in any way, so they cannot be interfered with through a WiFi device either.

If one had to alter the data collected by the EVM, they would have to mess with the machine physically.

3. Can EVMs be replaced?

This scenario is within the realm of possibility.

On the one hand, after the close of polls, all polled EVMs and VVPATs are brought under security cover to the designated strongrooms, which are sealed with double locks, in the presence of candidates and poll observers of the Election Commission.

The entire process of storage and sealing of the strongroom is filmed. Continuous CCTV coverage is done till the completion of counting.

Each strongroom is guarded with round-the-clock security by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Further, the candidates or their designated agents stand 24x7 guard outside the strongroom.

On the counting day, the strongrooms are opened in the presence of the candidates/agents and observer. The whole process is filmed.

Before counting commences, the counting agents are shown the address tags, seals and a serial number of the EVMs to satisfy themselves to the genuineness and authenticity of the machines used in the actual polls.

As of now, no candidate or party observer has raised an official complaint about any EVM from their constituency being missing or that it does not match the serial number provided originally.

A Samajwadi Party worker keeps vigil outside a strongroom in Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: Twitter/Benarasiyaa)

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has also denounced the videos that were flooding social media since the elections officially came to an end.

"The visuals seen viral on media do not pertain to any EVMs used during the polls," said the EC in a press release on Tuesday.

"The aspersions in clips being used in media merely pertain to the storage or movement of reserve unused EVMs," the note added.

However, according to EC guidelines "all polled and reserve EVMs, after voting, shall be under the cover of armed police at all times. Reserve EVMs should also be returned at the same time when the polled EVMs are returned at the receipt centre."

Latest visuals of a Toyota Innova illegally carrying EVM's was caught in Phagwara, near Jalandhar, Punjab. #EVMHacking pic.twitter.com/oBU3X7mOtW Rofl Republic (@i_theindian) May 21, 2019

The poll body has not been able to explain why reserved EVMs were not returned to their respective strongrooms.

What the poll body needs to do is come out in the open and lay rest to these allegations once and for all so that the people of India can repose their faith in the democratic process fully and confidently.