"Impossible, False": Election Body On RJD's 25,000 Pre-Loaded Votes Claim

The Election Commission on Tuesday dismissed senior RJD leader Jagdanand Singh's allegation that each EVM used in the Bihar polls had 25,000 votes even before polling, saying it is "technically impossible" and "procedurally false".

The allegation levelled by Jagdanand Singh that every EVM contained "25,000 pre-loaded votes" is technically impossible, procedurally false, and contradicted by statutory records signed by RJD's own election and polling agents, the EC said in a statement.

The RJD, which won only 25 out of the 143 seats it contested in the assembly polls, on Monday claimed that this mandate did not reflect people's desire and the party may move court as there were "irregularities in the EVMs".

"Each EVM had 25,000 votes even before the polling began... and we still managed to win 25 seats," Singh said after a meeting of the party leaders at the official residence of Tejashwi Yadav.

Singh is a former head of the RJD's Bihar unit.

"EVMs have no WiFi, Bluetooth, internet, or any external connectivity, making remote or digital tampering impossible. Before polling, each EVM displays '0' votes for every candidate, and a mandatory mock poll is conducted in the presence of all political party agents, after which all mock votes are cleared and a mock poll certificate is jointly signed," the EC statement added.

Additionally, EVMs undergo two layers of randomisation -- first at the district level for allocation to assembly segments, and second at the constituency level for allotment to individual polling stations in the presence of all political parties and their representatives, ensuring that no one can predict which EVM will go to which booth, it added.

Political agents remain present during EVM randomisation, sealing, dispatch, polling, and storage, and strong rooms are sealed, and signatures of all party representatives are taken. No broken seal, anomaly, or objection was ever reported by RJD at any stage. Further, every EVM is paired with a VVPAT unit, allowing visible verification of each vote, the statement said.

Random VVPAT counting in every constituency acts as a statistical audit, and no mismatch was reported between EVM and VVPAT anywhere, it said.

"Therefore, no credible evidence has been presented by Singh. On the contrary, RJD's own agents signed the mock poll certificates, Form 17C (account of votes recorded), and sealing documents without recording a single objection, fully contradicting the claim now being made," it added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)