Perfect match between VVPAT and EVM count: EC sources

New Delhi: No mismatch was found in the counting of paper trail machine slips and votes polled in EVMs in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and the seven bypolls, sources in the Election Commission said on Friday.

Since 2019, VVPAT (paper-trail machine) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency (or segment in cases of Lok Sabha seats) are matched with the EVM count for greater transparency.

Votes were counted for the Gujarat and the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls on December 8, along with those of six assembly by-elections and a Lok Sabha bypoll.

Since 2004, EVMs have been used in four Lok Sabha and 139 assembly elections, diverse results of these elections have been accepted by all political parties and citizens, the sources pointed out.

The diverse results in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and those of various bypolls reflect the free, fair and transparent conduct of the elections, they said. They also said for the 59,723 polling stations, no repoll was held nor a demand for any recount of votes was made. There were no complaint at any stage about electronic voting machines (EVMs). There were also no complaint at any of the counting rounds of all the 250 constituencies of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the sources pointed out.

Results where the victory margin was less than even 1,000 votes were also accepted by the candidates. The results were not contested by the parties or the candidates.

The sources said seats with very low margins – less than 500 votes – were won by candidates of various parties and there no demands for a recount.

They also pointed out that elections to a total of 250 seats in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were concluded peacefully without any untoward incident.