Percentage of voters who don’t trust ECI nearly doubled in last 5 yrs — CSDS-Lokniti survey

Jammu: Voters’ trust in the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declined over the last five years, shows a pre-poll survey conducted by CSDS-Lokniti.

The survey that was conducted in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections shows that the percentage of people who do not trust the top poll body at all has nearly doubled during this period, though only 9 percent.

The question posed to the people surveyed was, “To what extent do you trust the Election Commission? To a great extent, to some extent, not much or not at all.”

According to the method note published in The Hindu, the survey was conducted between 28 March and 8 April. There were 10,019 respondents from 19 states — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

The survey was conducted in 400 polling stations across one assembly segment each in 100 parliamentary constituencies. The ‘multi-stage random sampling’ method was used to ensure that the sample fully represents the cross-section of Indian voters.

The most drastic change came in the section of voters who trust the ECI to a “great extent”. In the 2019 survey, every second voter trusted the ECI to a “great extent”. This, however, has nearly halved in the latest survey — down to 28 percent from 51 percent.

However, the percentage of survey respondents who trust the ECI to “some extent”, has marginally increased, to 30 per cent from 27 per cent.

Sceptics who do not trust ECI much, have also doubled over the last five years, to 14 percent from 7 percent.

Declining trust in the ECI also reflects in the data collected about voters’ perception of Electronic Voting machines (EVMs). Sandeep Shastri, national director of Lokniti, sees perception of EVMs as the “linked factor” with the decline in trust in the ECI.

In response to the question, “How likely is it that EVMs can be manipulated by the ruling party”, over a sixth of the respondents said, “a lot”.

Meanwhile, every fourth voter believes that there is some scope of manipulation in EVMs by the ruling party, while only a sixth of the respondents believe that there is no scope of EVM manipulation at all. The remaining 11 percent believe that there is “not much” likelihood that the ruling party can manipulate EVMs.

ThePrint reached ECI spokesperson B. Narayanan via messages. He refused to comment.

The findings of the survey are significant given that opposition parties have questioned the credibility of EVMs. During a meeting of the INDIA bloc in Delhi last year, a unanimous resolution was passed, saying, “INDIA parties reiterate that there are many doubts on the integrity of the functioning of the EVMs. These have been raised by many experts and professionals as well.”

The resolution added, “Our suggestion is simple: Instead of the VVPAT slip falling in the box, it should be handed over to the voter who shall then place it in a separate ballot box after having verified his or her choice. 100% counting of VVPAT slips should then be done.”

Former poll commissioners divided on survey responses

While former chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat questioned the methodology of the survey, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa called the findings “disturbing”.

“It is disturbing and should certainly be a cause of concern,” Lavasa told ThePrint.

“I am sure the ECI will try and go behind the responses to understand the sentiment it expresses.”

Lavasa is a 1980-batch retired IAS officer, whose resignation in run up to the 2019 polls drew a lot of attention. He had resigned after differences with the other two election commissioners regarding complaints about alleged MCC violations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, former chief election commissioner Rawat questioned the survey’s sample size, methodology, parameters and percentage of error. “I don’t think people trust the ECI less than they used to. Only the elite with some agenda are voicing against the Election Commission because they believe whatever they are thinking and whatever they are asking is the right thing,” Rawat told ThePrint.

“Their belief is based on something which is total fiction.”

Hitting out at critics, he said that none of the people who question EVMs “may have read the electronic voting machine status paper, but raise hundreds of questions against EVMs”.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)