‘Fake narratives’ about voter turnout, EVM functioning could have led to anarchy: EC

Fake narratives were spread about discrepancies in voter lists, voter turnout data and the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines during the Lok Sabha polls that could have led to “anarchy”, the Election Commission alleged on Monday.

“We failed in understanding them [fake narratives], we admit it,” Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference. “Now we have understood.”

Kumar said that the poll panel had expected fake narratives and “attacks from outside India” during the election process. “We had made arrangements for such situations, I cannot share the technical details, but the attacks came from within the country,” he said.

The Election Commissioner referred to the Supreme Court ruling in February that had closed proceedings relating to the alleged duplication of names in electoral rolls. The court had noted that adequate measures were in place for voters to approach the Registration Officer if their names were deleted or if the records had any errors.

Kumar said that after the polling began, another plea was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the tallying of all Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail slips to verify votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines. The petitioners in the case had alleged faulty functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines.

The chief election commissioner alleged that the plea could have given rise to...

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