Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena said on Wednesday that the failure rate of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the state was far below the national average.
The only repoll ordered in the state, in a booth in Kalamassery (Ernakulam), was not the result of EVM snag but supervisory lapse.
"It was never our case that the machines were fool-proof. But our objective was to reduce the margin of error to the lowest possible level," the state's chief electoral officer Teeka Ram Meena said.
The number of balloting units (BUs) that failed was 397, which is 1.04 per cent of the total 38,003 BUs used in the state.
The number of failed control units (CUs) was 338, which is 1.04 per cent of the total 32,579 CUs used for the elections.
The number of voter-verified paper trial (VVPATs) that snagged was 840, which was 2.36 per cent of the 35,665 VVPATs used.
The CEO merely said this rate was lower than the national average and that the national figures were still not officially available.
(An EVM is designed with two units: the control unit and the balloting unit. These units are joined together by a cable. The control unit of the EVM is kept with the presiding officer or the polling officer. The balloting unit is kept within the voting compartment for electors to cast their votes.)
The chief electoral officer said that two months ago, when the EVM training began in earnest, the failure rate in the state was a whopping 10 per cent. In an interaction with reporters in March, he had said that the rate would be above national average because of the high humidity in the state.
"This alerted us to the need for intensive training. Then for a month, our officers were given thorough training on the various aspects of the EVMs," Teeka Ram Meena said. "Of course, some EVMs did have problems. We accept it," he added.
The CEO sounded suspicious about what he termed the "disproportionate" media interest on Chowara booth, a coastal booth in Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
"What happened was that the machine got jammed when the 76th voter cast the vote. This had happened elsewhere, too, in the state on voting day. In some cases, the machine had got jammed when the 200th vote was cast or at times when the 136th vote was cast. This is normal. We just replace the jammed EVM with a new one. I am surprised why the media harped so much on Chowara," Meena said.
The votes recorded until the stage when the EVM went out of order would remain safe in the memory of the Control Unit and, according to the CEO, it was perfectly fine to proceed with the polling after replacing the EVM.
There is no need to start the poll from the beginning, he said.
The CEO said that the state had stocked on adequate quantities of EVMs anticipating EVM malfunction. "In fact, we had said on April 22 itself, when it had rained heavily, that some machines could develop snag," the CEO said.
Meena conceded that he was a "bit uncomfortable" with the penalty imposed on voters who were unable to prove their complaint that the EVM had malfunctioned.
"But it is a law passed by Parliament, and the politicians themselves can change it if they want," Meena said. If an elector is unable to prove his charge, he can get a prison term of up to six months.
In booth number 83 of Kalamassery, the presiding officer failed to clear the votes registered during the mock poll. The final tally (758) was more than what was actually polled (715). The CEO said penal action would be imposed only after he gets a report from the district collector.