Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday accepted the application of Dipali Das, the BJD MLA candidate from Jharsuguda, for EVM/VVPAT memory verification in her constituency.
Accepting her application, the ECI has permitted the checking and verification of 13 polling stations in Jharsuguda.
“It is not that I am unhappy with the results, but as a candidate, it is my right to seek verification of EVMs as I suspect irregularities in some booths,” Dipali told media while seeking EVM verification across 13 polling stations.
Dipali sought EVM verification after a narrow loss to BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy. She lost by 1,333 votes to Tripathy.
In a statement, ECI said, “According to the standard operating procedure issued and the legal position, checking and verification process can be initiated within 4 weeks of verification of the status of Election Petition filed in the respective constituencies from the Registrars of the respective High Courts by CEOs.”
“The technical Standard Operating Procedure enumerating the methodology and steps for checking and verification of burnt memory/microcontroller of EVM units will be issued by the Commission in due course before the end of the election petition period of July 19” read the statement.
Notably, after winning the by-poll in 2023 following the demise of her father Naba Das, Dipali lost the recently concluded General elections to BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy by 1,333 votes from Jharsuguda, which also saw 1,297 Nota votes.
