Category: National

All Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units from the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, for which losing candidates had requested verification of the burnt memory or micro-controller, have passed all diagnostic tests, the Election Commission (EC) confirmed on Thursday. Crucially, no mismatch was found between EVM results and VVPAT slip counts, reaffirming the system’s integrity. According to the EC, this Check and Verification (C&V) exercise was conducted across 10 assembly constituencies (ACs) and proves “yet again, that the EVMs are tamper-proof.” The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer received eight formal applications requesting verification of the burnt memory or microchip in EVMs and VVPATs from the constituencies of Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Thane, Panel, Alibag, Khadakwasla, Arni, Yevla, Chandgad, Kolhapur North, and Majalgaon. The C&V process involved: The verification was conducted in the presence of the applicants, other contesting candidates, or their representatives, though two applicants chose not to attend the exercise. Details of the Diagnostic Process In Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Thane, Khadakwasla, and Majalgaon, diagnostic tests were conducted to verify the burnt memory, as per the applicants’ requests.In the remaining constituencies—Panel, Alibag, Arni, Yevla, Chandgad, Kolhapur North, and other EVM sets in Majalgaon—both a diagnostic test and a mock poll were conducted. Afterwards, engineers from the manufacturer ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited) certified that all machines passed the diagnostic checks. A mock election was held to simulate polling, and the EVM results exactly matched the VVPAT slip counts, confirming no tampering or malfunction. Background and Political Context The update comes amid persistent allegations from the Congress party, which after losing the 2024 assembly elections in Maharashtra, accused the BJP of benefiting from arbitrary additions and deletions in the electoral rolls and an unexplained surge in voter turnout after 5 PM on polling day. The EC’s latest findings, however, appear to counter claims of EVM manipulation, with full transparency and verification involving candidates or their representatives. The Election Commission maintains that the EVM-VVPAT system remains secure and credible, as has been repeatedly validated in various C&V exercises over the years.

In a landmark judgment, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The court held that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient and credible evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Special Judge AK Lahoti stated that the evidence presented by the prosecution was inconsistent and lacked coherence. “Terrorism has no religion, but conviction cannot be based on moral grounds,” the judge emphasized in the ruling. The case stemmed from a blast on September 29, 2008, in Malegaon, Maharashtra, where an improvised explosive device (IED) placed on a motorcycle exploded in a Muslim-majority locality during the holy month of Ramzan. The explosion killed six and injured over 100 people. The court ruled that the prosecution could not conclusively prove that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, as the vehicle’s chassis number was only partially recovered. Moreover, the court noted she had renounced material possessions after becoming a sanyasi two years before the incident. In Lt. Col. Purohit’s case, the court found no credible evidence to support the claim that he had sourced RDX from Kashmir or participated in bomb-making. Though there were financial transactions between Purohit and another accused, Ajay Rahirkar, the funds were used for personal expenses such as home construction and insurance policies, not terrorism-related activities. The court also rejected the prosecution’s theory of a conspiracy among the seven accused. While it acknowledged that six people had died in the blast, it accepted that only 95 were injured—discounting a few manipulated medical certificates submitted during the trial. The case was initially investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested 12 individuals and alleged that the blast was orchestrated by the group Abhinav Bharat. In 2010, the investigation was handed over to the NIA, which filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2016 and suggested dropping MCOCA charges and certain accused due to lack of evidence. Despite this, the court in December 2017 ruled that seven accused—Thakur, Purohit, Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dwivedi—would face trial under the IPC, UAPA, and Explosive Substances Act. The trial officially began in December 2018. Over the course of the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, though 34 turned hostile, and more than 30 witnesses died before they could testify. One of the accused, Sudhakar Dwivedi, even questioned whether a blast had occurred at all, prompting the court to examine over 100 victims and injured individuals. Final arguments concluded in April 2024, and the verdict was reserved for April 19. In its final ruling, the court also directed compensation for victims—₹2 lakh each for the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 each for the injured. Legal Representation: The judgment concludes a politically and socially sensitive case that had drawn nationwide attention for nearly two decades.