Open to use of paper ballots instead of EVMs in future elections: BJP

New Delhi: BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday said that the party is open to discussions on reverting to use of paper ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in future elections if there was consensus among other parties on the matter.

Madhav’s reaction came hours after the Congress passed a resolution at its 84th Plenary Session here, urging the Election Commission (EC) to revert to the old practice of paper ballots in future elections instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). This is necessary as there are misgivings on “misuse” of EVMs to “manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict”, the party said.

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BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav while reminding the Congress that it had taken the decision to shift from paper ballots to EVMs and said that BJP would ‘return to paper ballots if every party thinks so’. “I would like to remind Congress that the decision to shift from paper ballots to EVMs was taken because of a larger consensus. Now today, if every party think that we should return to paper ballots again, after due discussion, we can consider,” BJP general secretary Ram Madhav told ANI Saturday night.

The Congress and other political parties have been alleging that EVMs were tampered during polls and demanding reintroduction of the ballot paper system of voting. A resolution was also moved in this regard in the plenary session. Reliability of EVMs has come under scrutiny ever since the saffron party got an unprecedented mandate of 325 seats out of 403 in the UP assembly polls in March 2017.