Of 1.25 crore votes counted, 51 did not match, says panel

After reports of mismatches between the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips and the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count in eight cases during the Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up teams to probe seven of the cases.

Of the 1.25 crore VVPAT slips counted, 51 or 0.0004% of the total saw a mismatch, according to facts shared by the EC on July 21.

The ECI on Wednesday ordered the Chief Electoral Officers to analyse the mismatches. In one of the cases pertaining to Manipur, the enquiry team was not set up as an election petition has been filed, an EC official said on Thursday.

Another EC source said the teams were given 10 days to analyse the mismatch.

The orders cited a May 21 letter by the ECI that said thorough probes would be conducted in case of a mismatch of VVPAT slips and electronic results to ascertain the technological, procedural, systemic and human errors or lapses in compliance. These could include the possibility of returning officers not clearing the mock votes and manual errors while tallying the VVPAT slips.

The mismatches mark the first time there were any, since VVPAT recounts were implemented in the 2017 Assembly elections.

Under the electoral rules, if there is any discrepancy in the match, the VVPAT count prevails.

According to the order, the teams have been asked to probe the cases of one less VVPAT slip being found in the Sri Renukaji Assembly Constituency of the Shimla Parliamentary Constituency in Himachal Pradesh; one slip extra found in the Kshetrigao Assembly Constituency of the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency in Manipur; one slip extra each found in the Begun Assembly Constituency of the Chittoragarh Parliamentary Constituency and the Osian Assembly Constituency of the Pali Parliamentary Constituency in Rajasthan; seven extra slips found in the Kodur Assembly Constituency of the Rajampet Parliamentary Constituency in Andhra Pradesh; and four less slips and 34 less slips respectively found in the Pynursla Assembly Constituency and Nongkrem Assembly Constituency of the Shillong Parliamentary Constituency in Meghalaya.