The Election Commission has decided to count VVPAT slips if the data of mock drill earlier was not deleted from electronic voting machines (EVMs). UP’s chief electoral officer Veknateshwar Lu said in Lucknow that it was reported that in some places, presiding officers had forgotten to delete mock poll votes before the actual voting, which could result in a difference between votes recorded in EVMs and VVPAT slips.
The CEO said that counting of VVPAT slips of five booths in each Assembly segment would be taken up at the end of counting process.
“The EC has decided that in case mock poll votes were not deleted from the EVMs, the VVPAT slips would be counted and it would be final,” the CEO said.
He said if there was any technical flaw leading to non-opening of EVMs, VVPAT slips would be counted then too. The counting personnel will have to count 1,63,484 EVMs in 80 Lok Sabha seats where polling was held at the same number of booths. A total of 147 central counting observers would be deployed to monitor the entire process.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi), UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Congress president Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh ( Lucknow) , Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (Azamgarh), along with several Union ministers and Bollywood stars, contested from various seats of UP.