DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sardar Sukh bir Singh Badal today called for an independent and transparent probe at the highest judicial level into allegations of the nationwide fudging of figures and hacking of EVM machines in order to manipulate the people's mandate in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Citing the huge mismatch in figures released by the Election Commission of India for polling across the country , and not just in Punjab, the Akali leader strongly emphasized that he was not referring to these mismatch mysteries in Punjab alone. "Therefore, no one should think that I am offering it as an explanation for SAD's or Punjab results. I am talking about the entire country."

In a statement here this afternoon, Mr Badal said that he was "shocked beyond belief" by reports of mismatch in EVM figures in 539 out of 542 constituencies which went to polls. Lakshawdeep, Daman & Diu and Amreli (Gujarat) are the only exceptions to this mismatch mystery.

He pointed out that there was a mysterious link between the size of the mismatch and the final result." The differences between the first and the final figures of EVM released by the ECI at many places was over 12% percent - far more than the difference between the vote share of winners and losers. Higher the mismatch, higher the number of BJP seats. He said that the first and the final count showed a mysterious hike of 12.54% in ODISHA where the BJP got 20 out of 21 seats. Similarly, this hike was 12.54% In Andhra Pradesh where NDA won 21 out of 25. In Assam, the hike was 9.50% and NDA got 11 out of 14 seats." Referring to Punjab, Mr Badal pointed out that there was a 6.94 % difference between EC's own first and final count in the EVM votes alone. Incidentally, the BJP vote share rose to 18.56%.in the state.

It may be pointed out that this gap refers to the difference between the first and final figures of the EVM votes alone, and does not refer to ballot votes. Even more important, the Election Commission had claimed before the Supreme Court on May 25 that there can be no change in the EVM count as the machines are fool proof.

Badal also dubbed as " strange and unbelievable" the ECI's claim before the SC that it had released the figures on vote percentages but it was not possible to determine the actual numbers at such a short notice. "Is it humanly possible to determine the percentage without knowing the actual numbers? How do you decide the percentage without knowing the numbers? Have they invented new maths?" the Akali leader asked.
(editor@dailyworld.in)