BJD gives these five suggestions to ECI for free and fair election in the country
New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has reportedly given a total of five suggestions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in order to conduct a free and fair election across the country.
In a letter to the ECI, the conch party said, “We had mentioned in our earlier Memorandum that discrepancies indicated therein were unusual and showed that there was either machine (EVM) error or manual error (during data entry) or process error or a combination of all these. Since doubts have been raised in the minds of voters about conduct of free and fair elections on account of such discrepancies, which further get strengthened due to non-furnishing of Forms 17C Part I & II despite repeated written requests since last seven months, the BJD would like to suggest/demand the following in the interest of free and fair elections in the country.”
The Election Commission should conduct a periodic “process audit” of the entire election process by independent auditors or the CAG and make such report public as is being done in several countries where democratic elections are held.
Develop a mechanism for involving citizens groups to co-monitor the election process from inception to the end.
Put in a mechanism for conducting concurrent audit during polling at booth level as well as during counting after satisfactory completion of which the results should be declared. Concurrent audit can be done almost real-time so that there is no undue delay in the declaration of results.
Tallying of all VVPAT slips with the EVM count in every booth using now available advanced counting machines.
A 30-day time-limit for District Election Officer to furnish copies of Forms 17C Part I & II as well as all VVPATS to any citizen on payment of prescribed fees.
“We believe that these measures would increase the trust of the citizens on the fairness and transparency of the election process and the conduct of the election officials involved in the process. We, therefore, strongly urge the ECI to consider the above suggestions/demands in the interest of the democracy in the our country,” BJD hoped.
