At a time when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been questioning the credibility of the Election Commission of India and EVMs, hundreds of VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) slips were found lying in Atmakur government primary school – one of the polling stations in Nellore – on Monday.
Students who found the slips left in a package in one of the classrooms informed the teachers who subsequently alerted the authorities. Local journalists immediately aired the news about the VVPAT slips found in Nellore, triggering panic amongst political leaders as well as the district authorities.
District Collector and Returning Officer Muthyala Raju immediately sought a report from the local authorities. A team of officials led by Chinna Ramudu visited the school and found the slips strewn across the school premises.
After inquiry, authorities said that the slips were not original, but the ones generated during the test run a day before the polling.
To check the functioning of the EVMs, mock polls would be conducted by the authorities. Mock polls are also held half an hour before the actual polling begins.
Ramudu told media, “While commissioning the EVMs and VVPATs, we do mock polling of 5%, which is 1000 votes. These slips are a part of that trial run.”
Admitting the negligence of the polling staff, he said, “Usually we destroy the slips from mock polls. But somehow these slips weren't destroyed. The original slips are safe and secure in the strongrooms.”
The authorities later burnt and destroyed the collected material.
Andhra Pradesh CEO Gopala Krishna Dwivedi, who took serious note of the negligence, later confirmed to media that the recovered slips were dummy ones generated during randomising of the EVMs and VVPATs before commencing the polling.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who has been making allegations doubting the credibility of the Election Commission, has demanded that the poll body should match 50% of VVPAT slips with the votes recorded. This request was turned down by the EC, following which he has decided to approach the Supreme Court.
Read: 'EC has to clear doubts': Andhra CM Naidu continues offensive over EVMs