Pune: Questioning the reliability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), 11 defeated candidates from Pune district have formally requested a recount of votes after the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections results.
Among them, six candidates have paid the required fees to initiate the recounting process.
The district administration is set to submit a report to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra, who will decide the next course of action.
The elections witnessed a landslide victory for the Mahayuti alliance, which secured a dominant position in Pune as well. The unexpected defeats of several high-profile candidates have prompted this move to verify the EVM results.
Candidates from constituencies such as Hadapsar, Pune Cantonment, Shirur, and Khadakwasla have submitted applications for recounting.
One notable applicant is Prashant Jagtap, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate from Hadapsar. He has paid ₹12.74 lakh for the recount process through the District Collector's office.
Procedure and Fees for EVM Recounting
A recount is conducted for 5% of the total polling stations in the Assembly constituency.
Candidates must pay ₹40,000 per EVM, along with 18% GST.
The recounting application is approved by the state CEO, following which the district administration schedules the recount date.
EVM data is preserved for 45 days as per the Election Commission of India guidelines. Recounting is scheduled only after this period.
The EVMs for the polling stations specified by the candidates are made available for the recount, overseen by the Election Returning Officer (ERO).
Initially, the data in the EVM is cleared entirely. Candidates are then allowed to cast around 1,200 test votes in the machine.
The votes cast during testing are compared with the results recorded in the EVM to verify accuracy.
