The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday reiterated its accusation against the Bharatiya Janata Party had rigged the Electronic Voting Machines used in Delhi’s civic polls to win the local body elections. In a special session of the Delhi Assembly, AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj conducted a demonstration to suggest how easily a manipulated EVM could pass a mock test.

The EVM controversy has been making headlines since March 11, the day the election results were announced in five states. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati had then alleged that the voting machines used during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in February-March had been tampering with to favour the BJP.

Soon after she made the allegations, AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal joined the chorus of Opposition party leaders claiming that the BJP was tampering EVMs. Although they have been demanding that the Election Commission revert back to using the paper ballot system to hold polls, the EC has maintained that its EVMs are tamper-proof.

Here is a round-up of pieces published on Scroll.in that were centred on the EVM row:

  • It was not Lotus-Lotus – How misreporting led to a controversy over EVMs in Madhya Pradesh: One newspaper report may have done it all, Scroll.in discovered as it travelled to Bhind to get to the heart of the matter.
  • EVMs can’t be rigged, ex-Election Commissioner Quraishi tells Scroll.in: In this environment of majoritarianism, we must seriously consider proportional representation, adds SY Quraishi.
  • One more report of EVMs favouring the BJP falls apart under scrutiny: There are two videos featuring allegations of faulty EVMs, but neither person has been traced, and there is no official complaint.
  • The great EVM debate – Convincing the losers that they lost: It’s not about whether recent elections were rigged, as alleged. It is about a transparent mechanism for determining the truth.
  • Not just Mayawati and Kejriwal, many developed countries find EVMs unreliable, rely on paper ballots: Over the last decade, the West has seen a movement away from electronic voting methods after vulnerabilities and hacking risks have been found.
  • Hacking EVMs – The EC has issued a challenge, but it must first accept the challenge it faces: The real challenge is to remove the trust deficit, and the offer to demonstrate tampering of EVMs can only be one step in that direction.