In May first week, several political activists got together and launched a missed call campaign (on the phone No 9667655855) in support of the demand that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections must be declared only after verification of 50 percent electronic voting machine (EVM) data with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) receipts.
During the counting for the Lok Sabha polls on May 23, as per the Supreme Court guidelines, only two percent EVM data will be verified with VVPAT slips. As of May 21, morning (10.30 am) 83,994 persons gave a missed call supporting the demand of 50 percent EVM verification with VVPAT. On the day of the polls, May 23, this number touched 2.50 lakh.
At the same time, senior political activist and environmentalist Mahesh Pandya had simultaneously launched a petition through change.org with the same demand of 50 percent EVM verification in each Assembly Constituency with VVPAT. As of May 21, 10.30 am, 9,973 people signed the petition. On May 23, this number crossed 12,000.
The missed call campaign had asked concerned citizens to give a missed call on 9667655855 to “support the demand that 2019 Lok Sabha elections must be declared only after verification of 50% EVMs with VVPAT receipts.” The effort, supported by civil society networks across India, was meant to "further pressure" India's election machinery to ensure that the poll outcome becomes more transparent.
Based on the number of missed calls sent, a mobile vendor, hired by the campaigners, would collect the data and hand these over to those who have floated the idea to be further forwarded to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Supreme Court.
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