Beep, beep, weep! How ghosts vote

In a field in West Midnapore’s Jhargram town, polling personnel check an electronic
voting machine on the eve of the first phase of voting earlier this week.
Pic:Saikat Santra

Calcutta, April 8: Ghosts apparently come alive after polling time ends in some booths of Bengal.

The after-hours surge in the turnout in several Assembly constituencies that went to the polls on Monday has re-ignited the debate on "ghost voting", an alleged tactic associated with ruling parties in Bengal.

The alleged malpractice feeds on the names of voters who are absent, shifted or deceased, besides some who do not turn up despite being in the constituency on polling day.

The Left Front is said to have pioneered the practice but sources in the ruling establishment said it had evolved into an "art" during the Trinamul regime.

The Telegraph is not implying that the so-called ghosts voted on Monday, although such allegations have been made by the Opposition and misgivings expressed by political scientists.

The trigger was a 3.3-percentage-point jump (or 1.3 lakh votes in absolute numbers) in the turnout that was reported after 6.30pm that day. The steepest spikes were recorded in constituencies where the polling deadline was 4pm.

The allegations have been rubbished by the ruling party and the office of the Bengal chief electoral officer, made up of state government employees on deputation to the Election Commission of India.

Against such a backdrop, this newspaper spoke to political scientists who have been working on elections in Bengal and other states for years, members of the Opposition and officials in the state administration to find out how the "ghosts" come into play. Answers the interactions threw up follow:

What happens after polling ends in a booth?

After the last person in the queue has cast his or her vote, the central forces shut the gates of the premises. In the booth inside, the presiding officer (the polling official in charge of the booth, usually a state government employee such as a schoolteacher) and the three polling officers complete the paperwork. The presiding officer disassembles the electronic voting machine (EVM), packs it and seals it for its journey to the strongroom, where it is stored till the counting process.

Who are supposed to be in the booth then?

Nobody but the presiding officer, the three polling officers and the polling agents of the contesting candidates.

What allegedly happens?

Often, besides the four polling personnel, only the Trinamul's polling agent remains in the booth. The Opposition either fails to assign polling agents or they are driven out at some point on polling day. The signatures of the polling agents of other parties, taken at the end of the process, are often forged by the ruling party agents.

Who carries out the alleged false voting, that is, who actually presses the button?

Usually, the polling agent of the ruling party, with or without help from fellow party activists or supporters.

Is the EVM shut down before the "ghosts" start voting?

No. Once the machine is shut down, it cannot be restarted for voting of any sort. If such an attempt is made, the machine is reset and the recorded number of votes goes back to zero. Even if somebody tries to cast the same number of votes on that machine, the machine will reveal during counting that it was reused.

Is it random press-the-button or are the votes of only those who haven't voted cast?

Usually, votes of those who haven't voted are cast.

The presiding officer and the polling agents have the electoral rolls, on which markings are made through the day beside the names of those who did vote. For instance, if 86 people in a booth of 374 voters have not voted, the majority or all of those 86 votes are then cast after polling hours. These are the votes of the so-called ghosts.

In a few cases, on account of indiscriminate "press-the-button", the number of recorded votes exceeds the total number of voters assigned to the booth. The total number will be visible on the EVM, which should prompt the poll panel to launch a probe. In any case, booths with polling percentages above 90 and less than 10 are supposed to be scrutinised for malpractice.

In hundreds of booths across Bengal in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, various bypolls and the civic polls last year, the final turnout was 95-100 per cent. The results in many of these booths showed that the combined Opposition in these booths got less than 50 votes while the ruling party got everything else. On Monday, 100 per cent votes were cast in two booths.

Why does the presiding officer stay silent?

The presiding officer is allegedly coerced into compliance, with most of them later complaining of intimidation (off the record, of course).

Presiding officers in the past have revealed to their workplace superiors how polling agents of the ruling party rattled off their addresses and names and details of their family members and threatened them with dire consequences if they did not comply.

The names and details of all the presiding officers are allegedly handed to the ruling party by the administration, for use at the booth level. After that, the ruling party at the local level runs background checks.

Since the Election Commission goes primarily by the presiding officer's log and diary on how the polling went inside the booth, the officer's silence on malpractice virtually eliminates the possibility of a probe or repolling.

Can't the presiding officer file a report later?

He can. But such a report would invite a probe and possible repolling by the commission. This will expose him to the threats of the ruling party. He usually does not report - verbally or in writing - the malpractice.

What happens once the false votes have been cast?

As in the case of normal, ghost-free voting, the presiding officer disassembles, packs and seals the voting machine for its journey to the strongroom under central forces' surveillance.

Isn't there a ghost-busting formula?

Use of CCTV or webcams: If the cameras are switched off for a few minutes after voting ends and the presiding officer attributes it to a technical glitch or connectivity issues, the commission can do little. (On April 4, when voting took place in 4,945 booths, the commission used 157 webcasting cameras and 198 CCTV cameras.)

Central forces in the booth after polling ends: As of now, central forces are not allowed inside the booth during or after polling.

Sector officers (those who oversee a cluster of booths) monitoring the process when polling ends: There is no such provision.

Central observers in the booth overseeing the process when polling ends: There is no such provision.