The DMK on Saturday announced its decision not to participate in the verification of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the Kolathur Assembly constituency, where party president M.K. Stalin had contested, alleging that the machines had not been properly protected.

“So far, we have verified eight EVMs, and found discrepancies in three of them. Since nearly 30% of the machines examined have shown problems, we have come to the conclusion that the election was not conducted fairly. We believe we can establish this scientifically and legally. We will approach either the Madras High Court or the Supreme Court,” senior advocate N.R. Elango, who represented Mr. Stalin during the verification process, told reporters.

He said the party had submitted a letter containing 19 questions to the District Election Officer and sought clarifications from the officials, including representatives of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, who were supervising the verification.

‘Address tags unused’

He alleged that when he went to examine the EVMs used in Polling Station No. 157, the address tags on the machines appeared to be new and unused.

“We examined three machines. Since there were 36 candidates in the Kolathur constituency, each polling station should have had one control unit and three ballot units, with a total of seven address tags. However, the address tags appeared to be new and did not contain the required details,” he said.

Explaining the alleged discrepancy, Mr. Elango said the address tags were ordinarily secured with amber seals.

“In the machines produced for verification, the amber seal was found only on the front side. Election officials have attributed this to human error, but we cannot accept that explanation. The ballot units are not used during counting; only the control unit is accessed. That means the control unit would have been opened during counting and sealed again. There should, therefore, have been two amber seals. We believe the EVMs were not properly protected. We will not participate in the procedure,” he said.