EVMs get vote of confidence

CPI(M) only wanted to understand its functioning, NCP opts out of contest

How it works: A CPI(M) delegation being given a demonstration of the internal circuitry of the control units of the EVMs in New Delhi on Saturday.

The electronic voting machine (EVM) went unchallenged on Saturday, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) deciding only to understand its functioning and the Nationalist Congress Party opting out on grounds that the Election Commission did not provide the memory and battery numbers of machines not even four days in advance.

Calling it a mutual learning exercise, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told presspersons that the memory and battery numbers of the machines could not be provided to the NCP in advance as they were kept sealed in warehouses.

Academic exercise

The EC, through a letter to the NCP, said the party on Saturday conveyed that it would only participate in the event as an “academic exercise”.

The NCP’s representatives also had two rounds of meetings with the EC, and a detailed interaction with the Technical Experts Committee on EVMs. Expressing hope that the exercise had put to rest all the doubts about EVM security, Dr. Zaidi said the NCP could participate in future.