New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Monday told opposition parties it will call an all-party meeting soon to address their concerns over electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Representatives from the Congress, Communist Party of India, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party jointly met EC officials on Monday and demanded that the older system of postal ballots be restored.
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“We have requested to the EC that in the recent assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, local polls in Maharashtra and by-elections, people of the country and political parties have lost faith in EVMs. We demand that EVMs should go and be replaced with paper ballots,” Ghulam Nabi Azad, senior Congress leader said after the meeting. “We are all united in this demand for ballot papers. The EC has said it will call a meeting of all the political parties and our grievances will be addressed,” NCP leader Majeed Memon said.
Opposition parties allege EVMs were tampered with in recent state polls. But the poll watchdog says EVMs are “robust, secure and tamper-proof”. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court said it will hear on 13 April pleas challenging the use of EVMs in elections without the machines being equipped with voter verified paper audit trail.
