New Delhi: Sushil Chandra, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), on Thursday, said the counting of votes is a transparent process and there is a standard operating procedure under which we conduct the counting.

As counting of votes for five assembly elections are underway, Sushil Chandra, said, "Authorised polling agents of the political parties are allowed to come inside the counting centre". 

He assured that there was no question of  EVM tampering alleged by political parties ahead of the counting day. 

"There is no question of EVM tampering. EVMs are continuously used since 2004, in 2019 we have started using VVPAT at every polling booth. EVMs are sealed in the presence of political party agents", said Sushil Chandra.

Chandra further denied any electoral malpractice in Varanasi, as alleged by Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav a day before the counting. 

"The questions raised on an EVMs in Varanasi was meant for training purpose. The ADM's mistake was that he did not inform political parties about the movement of EVMs for training purposes as per standard operating procedure". 

"When questions were raised by some parties, we showed them number displayed on that EVM. It didn't match with EVMs that were sealed and kept in the strong room for counting. They were satisfied after this. No EVM on which votes are cast can be taken out from the strong room", added CEC.