A narrative was peddled recently, in what appears to be a concerted effort by the ecosystem, about the fallibility of EVM machines. According to the story, in a mock poll ahead of the actual elections in Goa, the BJP had received 17 votes through the EVM instead of its allotted 9. As per the pre-decided outcome of the mock poll, each party was to receive 9 votes each.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer has now issued a statement regarding the whole matter and clarified that the initial EVM that was used was actually malfunctioning. It was further stated that it wasn’t the BJP which had received those 17 votes but it was, in fact, the Congress party which the malfunctioning EVM favoured. Calling the allegations casting aspersions on the credibility of the EVM “completely false, misleading and factually not correct”, the Commission urged voters and stakeholders to not pay heed to such rumours and false information.
https://twitter.com/akhileshsharma1/status/1121773857319161856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The initial rumours were spread by a variety of outlets on social media to undermine the credibility of the EVMS and thus, further the narrative of the Opposition parties that the BJP is being unlawfully favoured by the machines. Propaganda outlets such as Janta Ka Reporter, LallanTop, HW News, The Logical Indian and was furthered by people associated with the Congress party and other Opposition parties.
https://twitter.com/JantaKaReporter/status/1120544651864367104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/LogicalIndians/status/1121032891872399360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The false information was also shared by the National Media Panelist of the Congress party, Shama Mohamed, and Elvin Gomes, convener of AAP Goa.
https://twitter.com/drshamamohd/status/1120593108528320512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ielvisgomes/status/1120503777914761216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
For quite a long time, the Opposition parties have deliberately attempted to undermine the credibility of the EVMs to cloak their failure to sway the will of the voter. It appears that now the media is blatantly helping in them in their doomed endeavour.