“‘Ninda Ras Increasing”: Poll Body Chief Rajiv Kumar Amid Complaints Over EVMs

New Delhi:

The flexibility to reward or see the positives is on a decline, famous Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, including that the pattern of criticism (ninda ras), alternatively, is on the rise. The remark comes within the backdrop of the Opposition’s questions over the voting machines.

Talking on the NDTV ‘Indian of the 12 months Awards 2024’ on Friday, Mr Kumar stated though conducting the elections could be logistically difficult, the voters of the nation are able to resolving all points in a peaceable method.

“What surprises me, positively, is the resilience of the Indian voter… this nation can resolve all its points peacefully by way of the poll, not the bullet… That is the largest satisfaction,” he stated.

As a number of polling personnel have been honoured with the NDTV ‘Indian of the 12 months Awards 2024’, Mr Kumar stated it’s the “presiding officers who hold the democracy alive”.

“There are 10,50,000 cubicles within the nation. Every sales space contains round 4 to 5 presiding officers. This makes it round 50,00,000 fellows. And who’re these individuals? You have seen them – they’re lecturers, Anganwadi staff, officers from the agricultural division… individuals are pooled from numerous departments,” the CEC stated.

He stated your entire nation’s workforce is on the service of the ballot fee throughout the elections. “We’re a group of 500-600 individuals within the fee. In the course of the elections, we change into 15 million…,” he stated.

The highest official of the polling physique defined how the presiding officers are “randomly” deputed to varied polling cubicles throughout the nation, within the presence of political get together leaders and their brokers, to keep away from allegations of bias.

“The world’s highest polling station is in Himachal Pradesh. Within the reverse south, there’s one other enormous a part of India… within the west, you may have the desert, and within the east, you may have the wettest place on this planet, the place we’ve the polling station. The machine (EVMs) works within the desert, underneath zero diploma temperatures, underneath moisture-laden circumstances… As long as they (polling personnel) are there, Indian democracy is totally in protected arms and ideal,” he stated.

Opposition events have usually accused the ballot physique of bias and raised doubts over the functioning of voting machines. After shedding the Maharashtra elections final month, the Congress alleged lack of transparency within the electoral course of and manipulation of the voting machines.

The Supreme Court docket, lately, disapproved of repeated doubts raised over the voting machines, berating the tendency of political events to boost doubts over their functioning each time they lose elections whereas conveniently accepting the system after they win.

Mr Kumar additionally lamented that regardless of efforts, voters in cities proceed to keep away from turning up at polling stations on election days. Whereas Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and Naxal-affected areas have witnessed excessive turnout, “individuals in cities don’t vote”, he stated.

Regardless of a number of initiatives by the polling fee, voters in Bengaluru and Gurugram didn’t flip up in giant numbers on the cubicles, he added.

Colaba in Mumbai, Mr Kumar stated, registered the bottom turnout within the recently-held Maharashtra meeting elections. “However I’m positive, city apathy and youth apathy will even be taken care of in occasions to return,” he stated.