New Delhi, December 11 (HBTV): The INDIA bloc has decided to approach the Supreme Court over the alleged tampering of EVMs and VVPAT machines in the Maharashtra assembly elections, said Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Prashant Sudamrao Jagtap.

He made this announcement on Tuesday night following a high-level meeting with NCP(SCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, AAP's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, and senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Jagtap stated that the INDIA alliance has full faith in the apex court and hopes it will rule in their favour regarding the alleged scam in the Maharashtra assembly elections. He said, 'In today's meeting (at NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar's residence), we have decided to approach the Supreme Court as the INDIA alliance regarding the scam that happened in the Maharashtra assembly elections to make the BJP-led alliance win. This includes the issue of an increase in vote numbers and tampering in EVM and VVPAT. All the parties within the INDIA alliance in Maharashtra will go to the Court. We have faith in the Supreme Court and we expect that the SC will pronounce order in our favour and against the scam.'

Earlier, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule had joined Sharad Pawar in the meeting and posted on X, 'Joined Hon. Pawar Saheb in a pivotal meeting with Arvind Kejriwal ji, Sanjay Singh Ji, and NCP (SP) MPs, MLAs, and assembly candidates. Deliberated on critical issues impacting the nation and charted a strategic way forward.'

Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Additional Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Kulkarni asserted that EVMs cannot be hacked. He explained, 'I say this with full responsibility, EVM cannot be hacked. EVM cannot be tampered with. There is a simple reason for this. First, it is a standalone machine... no connection with any network or outer gadget. So, hacking or tampering is not possible. Second, the chip used in it is one-time programmable, so there cannot be any reprogramming.'

Kulkarni further clarified that there was no need for misunderstandings regarding EVMs, as the Election Commission of India (ECI) mandates a procedure for matching the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) count with the votes a candidate receives through EVMs. This process is followed to ensure there are no discrepancies in the figures. He added that the comparison of VVPAT slips and EVM votes takes place before the final results are declared.

Earlier, Chief Election Officer (CEO) S. Chockalingam on Tuesday rejected Opposition allegations about the legitimacy of EVMs in the Maharashtra assembly elections, stating that 'no mismatch' was found between the VVPAT slips and their corresponding EVM numbers.

(ANI)