The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that voting will take place in Jharkhand in two phases, on November 13 and November 20. While the polling in Maharashtra will be in a single phase on November 20 and the counting of votes for both the States will be on November 23, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters at a press conference convened to announce Assembly election schedule.
The Commission has also decided to hold by-elections to fill vacancies for 48 assemblies, including nine in Uttar Pradesh, and two Lok Sabha constituencies.
There are 9.63 crore eligible voters in Maharashtra, while the number of eligible voters in Jharkhand is 2.6 crore, CEC Kumar said.
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This time elections will be held in both the States on Wednesdays to address the problem of urban apathy, said Kumar. As per the ECI, urban voters go on vacation and do not vote if the polling is towards the weekend or close to a national holiday.
The term of the 288-member Maharashtra legislative Assembly ends on November 26, so a new government has to be formed before that. However, the tenure of Jharkhand legislative assembly which has 81 seats, is coming to an end on January 5.
The last date for filling nominations by candidates for the two phases of Jharkhand elections is October 25 and October 29, the dates for scrutiny of nominations are October 28 and 30 and last date for withdrawal of candidatures is October 30 and November 1, respectively.
Similarly, last day for filing nomination by candidates for Maharashtra Assembly polls is October 29, scrutiny of nominations is October 30 and withdrawal of nominations is November 4, as per the ECI.
The Model Code of Conduct will be enforced into the State from Tuesday itself with the announcement of poll schedule.
Exit Polls
CEC Kumar called for “some self-regulation” over exit polls which went wrong in their projections for the just-held Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections.
He stated that exit polls create expectations that cannot always be met and urged the pollsters to look into their process like sample size and selection of place -- for better outcomes.
“We don’t govern exit polls - but there is a need to introspect - what was the sample size etc. There are bodies that self-regulate. Time has come that the concerned bodies will do some self-regulation,” pointed out Kumar.
He observed that the “gap between expectation and reality can lead to frustration”.
On the Congress objecting to Haryana assembly poll results which the opposition party said was not acceptable to them as it defied their expectations since BJP comfortably won retaining the power for the third time in a row, Kumar said Commission cannot be blamed if the results are not favourable.
“Questions have been raised over EVMs in the past too. Like EVMs can be hacked.. Earlier some said that a vote cast for one party can go to the other… Now, we are wondering what will be the next accusation. It will come for sure, such claims won’t stop..., he said.
Countering specific charge of Congress on battery tampering, the CEC stated that five to six days before voting, commissioning of the machines happens.
“Symbols are loaded and battery is installed in an EVM, which is then sealed. The process is done before the party representatives. Even on the battery, agents sign. In presence of them, machines go into strong room which is locked and guarded by a three-layer security including that of CAPFs (Central Armed Police Force). Observers are also present,” he narrated to rule out tampering.
For polling, the entire process is visited again and it’s videographed. Every EVM has an identification number which is shared with polling agents and they are told to match machines with numbers at the polling stations, he recalled the procedure.
The party agents are also allowed to test machines by casting multiple votes before the actual polling begins to ensure that the EVMs are working properly. Again at the end of polling, agents get access to see whether counting by machines was in order, he stated.
Tell me one other place where repeated public disclosure happens at this level, he commented.
Replying to a query, Kumar said, “No. EVMs can’t be hacked. It is because pagers are connected, but EVMs are not.”