A day after praising the Election Commission for conducting the 17th Lok Sabha elections ‘perfectly’, the former President Pranab Mukherjee walked right into the ongoing controversy between the opposition and the government over reports of alleged tampering of voting machines.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, Pranab Mukherjee shared a picture of his statement to emphasise that the onus to ensure the institutional integrity of the voting machines lay with the Election Commission and it must deliver on this account.
Please read my statement below.#CitizenMukherjee pic.twitter.com/UFXkbv06Ol
— Pranab Mukherjee (@CitiznMukherjee) May 21, 2019
“The onus of ensuring institutional integrity in this case lies with the Election Commission of India (ECI). They must do so and put all speculations to rest,” Mukherjee said.
“I am concerned at reports of alleged tampering of voters’ verdict,” Mukherjee said, a reference to reports and videos from several parts of the country that opposition parties allege, demonstrate an effort to tamper the voting machines.
The poll watchdog has denied the allegations, insisting that the videos doing the rounds on social media were an effort to ‘refloat’ allegations that had already been settled at local levels.
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Leaders of about 22 political parties have come together in the national capital to discuss the challenge posed by the alleged vulnerabilities in voting machines and their management.
A delegation on Tuesday also meet the Election Commissioners in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum before the commission, requesting that the verification of VVPAT slips of randomly identified (05) polling stations should be done prior to the initiation of counting of votes and not after the completion of last round of counting.