Comments on: Was Election 2009 rigged?

By: RAJ

RAJ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:26:50 +0000

Qalander,

Even i couldnt find my name in the voter list…

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:31:30 +0000

The other thing people need to focus on in every election is voter rolls. In the US, this was where a lot of unfair practices were happening over the years, and it has taken years of effort and activism and pressure to clean things up. In India, most people are so busy celebrating the mere fact of the elections that no-on focuises on how unknown numbers of people are stricken off the rolls, etc. Experience from other countries shows that this is disproportionately likely to happen to poorer/less educated voters, and/or those from historically marginalized or “disfavored” groups. In fact, in 2009 even a celebrity like Kamal Haasan found that his name had accidentally been struck off and he couldn’t vote!

By: Gorilla

Gorilla — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:19:28 +0000

L K Advani in a press conference today has asked EC to do away with EVM as it is not ‘fullproof’. He has requested to go back to the paper voting starting with the state elections in Maharashtra.

By: RAJ

RAJ — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:05:50 +0000

“”"If Election 2009 was indeed rigged, it must be the first rigged election in history where even the opposition has not made this charge — must say the BJP’s introspection (which I hope the Left also follows) is a waste of time if the party feels that the election was simply rigged.”

Qalander,

Its hard to believe that the entire 2009 election is rigged….But as you pointed that specific instances have happned and it is been used by every political party in their respective states….Its not party specific…It might be a solid reason why political parties have not debated it on a national scale..

But in a fragmented polity of our country even 5 pct manipulation can throw surprising results in one way or other…So this is high time the Election Commission investigate the entire thing in a objective manner raising above the party line and upgrade the system to strenthen our democracy…

By: RAJ

RAJ — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:59:08 +0000

Qalander,

“”"But where are the allegations of large-scale rigging? “”
In my state(Orissa),in most of the constitunecies even the winning candidates are surprised to see their margin of victory….I heard(From reliable sources of the establishment) well before the polling that there would be EVM manipulation like “”whoever you vote the machine ‘ll direct it to only one symbol”" ,”"like starting the counting from 1000 instead of zero”" etc…Although these all has to be investigated and authenticated…

I met several candidates of my state(Now rulling party) who were so sure of their victory inspite of fragile ground conditions…In a particular seat the BJD candidate got 82,000 votes where the 2nd best candidate(Congress) got merely 10,000 votes ,which is a Congress bastion over the years…

These kind of incidents gives rise to suspicion…Even the Opposition parties in my state(Congress and BJP) have alleged of EVM tampering in Press Conferences…

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:40:09 +0000

Re: “Saigal said he had gone into all the safeguards built into the e-voting system in India with the help of former colleagues and IT experts and finds it both ‘possible and plausible’ to rig these machines and get a crooked result.”

If shown, this would be an irrefutable argument for improving the system — but it is by itself no evidence that such rigging has already taken place (and in most cases isn’t even alleged by the losing party).

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:38:38 +0000

Don’t you think people would have protested if the results were counter to their expectations? We have seen this recently in Iran, and in Kashmir in 1987 when the Congress rigged the elections; also in the late 1960s when the Congress was widely believed to have rigged elections in West Bengal.

In the US, despite years of scare articles and litigations, the electronic machines were deemed safe and reliable. This isn’t to say we don’t need better safeguards in India (we do, independent of electronic machines; after all, in the pre-EVM era there were numerous reports of booth-capturing in every election, and that is one form of rigging that isn’t possible in the EVM-era), but where are the allegations of large-scale rigging? (There have been specific reports in specific places, as there are in every election (e.g. Kamal Nath’s election is being challenged), but not nation-wide) If Election 2009 was indeed rigged, it must be the first rigged election in history where even the opposition has not made this charge — must say the BJP’s introspection (which I hope the Left also follows) is a waste of time if the party feels that the election was simply rigged.

By: RAJ

RAJ — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:42:21 +0000

I received sharp reaction from some members when i raised the issue of EVM tampering just after the elections…

Atleast i can say with confidence that i have information of large scale EVM tampering in my state…