The Election Commission on Thursday denied the report carried by Janta Ka Reporter on RTI replies about 20 lakh missing EVMs.
Reacting to Janta Ka Reporter’s report on Twitter, Election Commission Spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan wrote, “Regarding the story https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article27056139.ece … & news reports,it is clarified that there is no truth in contention that “20 lakh EVMs are missing”. The news report is based on inaccurate & specious misinterpretation of partial facts obtained frm RTI frm multiple Public Authorities.”
Regarding the story https://t.co/VzxlkMebno & news reports,it is clarified that there is no truth in contention that "20 lakh EVMs are missing". The news report is based on inaccurate & specious misinterpretation of partial facts obtained frm RTI frm multiple Public Authorities
— Sheyphali Sharan (@SpokespersonECI) May 9, 2019
Janta Ka Reporter had carried a news report last year based on RTI replies obtained by Mumbai-based activist Manoranjan Roy that claimed that there was no account of nearly 20 lakh EVMs supplied by Bengaluru-based manufacturer BEL and Hyderabad-based ECIL. The news gained momentum this week after The Hindu group’s Frontline magazine carried an in-depth story based on Roy’s RTI replies.
According to Roy, as reported by The Hindu Group’s Frontline Magazine, the Election Commission told him in an RTI reply that it received 10,05,662 EVMs from BEL (an EVM manufacturer) between 1989-90 and 2014-15. ECI also stated that it received 10,14,644 EVMs from ECIL (which is another manufacturer) between 1989-90 and 2016-17. However, as reported by Janta Ka Reporter in April last year, Bengaluru-based BEL had said that it supplied 19,69,932 EVMs to the ECI between 1989-90 and 2014-15. The RTI reply by the Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Ltd had said that it supplied 19,44,593 EVMs to the ECI. Thus, Frontline magazine report said that in a span of around 15 years the ECI has not received 9,64,270 EVMs that BEL states to have delivered and 9,29,949 EVMs that ECIL affirms to have delivered to it.