Representatives of the Congress and some other Opposition parties attending a multi-party meeting of the Election Commission reiterated their demand for reverting to the ballot paper system.
Seven national parties and 34 State parties attended the meeting. Representatives of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were among those in favour of going back to the ballot paper system.
Some representatives recommended an increase in the number of polling stations in every constituency for matching the EVM results with paper trails.
Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat later told presspersons that the poll panel would provide a “satisfactory solution” to the concerns raised by political parties on the reliability of the EVMs. The BJP, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the AIADMK, the Samajwadi Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti supported the idea of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. However, the Congress, the Trinamool, the Aam Aadmi Party, the DMK, the Telugu Desam Party, the Left and the Janal Dal(S) opposed it.
After the meeting, the Congress said more than 70% of the participants asked for going back to ballot papers. The party demanded that even if EVMs were used with VVPAT machines, 25-30% of the votes needed to be matched.
Fake voters
The party said the single biggest challenge before the EC was to check “fake and duplicate voters” on the electoral rolls, claiming that in Madhya Pradesh, 60 lakh were suspect duplicate/fake entries and in Rajasthan, it was about 45 lakh.
The Congress also made a strong pitch for a ceiling on party’s expenditure and offered a formula: multiply the limit of an individual candidate’s ceiling with the number of candidates a party fields. It also suggested a ceiling on advertisements across all platforms. However, the BJP was not in favour of introducing any cap.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said there was unanimity among parties on the issue of making the electoral process friendlier for the differently abled.
The Congress raised the issue of electoral bonds, terming it “simply a legal channel for companies to round-trip their tax-haven cash to a political party”.
It, along with some other parties, also supported inclusion of the print media in Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, barring publication of election matter within 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of polling.
However, the BJP — in its written response to an EC questionnaire — said the print media, State as well as national newspapers, should be exempted from silent period proclamations. The EC, through a statement, said the political parties sought linking of Aadhaar numbers with electors’ details; expressed concern on paid news and suggested that it be made an electoral offence.
(With inputs from Sandeep Phukan, agencies)