EVMs tampered in Channapatna bypolls

BANGALORE: Jai Kishan S R, who contested the Channapatna byelection in April as an independent candidate, has alleged that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tampered with resulting in the defeat of all 12 independent candidates.He said election registered 1,48,964 votes and he got only 133 votes. “I am sure the EVMs were manipulated to push independent candidates away,” he alleged. He said he undertook a little survey of his own after the announcement of the results and found that he was supposed to have got a minimum of 1,000 votes. “I have a hardware/software background. The displays on the EVMs were manipulated to mislead voters into voting for the wrong candidates,” he charged. Jai Kishan added that none of the 12 candidates received more than 1,000 votes. “I know who is responsible for this. This seems to be another version of Operation Lotus,” he said. Jai Kishan said he would file a complaint with the Election Commission on the manipulation of EVMs. “The best way to stop this would be to make EVMs public before an election. Then, people will know which one is manipulated,” he said. This was the third by-election that was held in the assembly constituency of Channapatna. C P Yogeshwar (BJP) won the election.