EVM right option to conduct polls, says CM Nitish Kumar
Madan Kumar | TNN | Jan 22, 2019, 07:16 IST
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during Lok Samvad, a public interaction programme, in Patna, MondayPATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Monday said electronic voting machines (EVMs) are the right option to conduct elections in the country.
“Large number of people have started turning up at the polling booths after the introduction of EVMs to cast votes,” Nitish told reporters during his weekly ‘Lok Samvad’ programme here.
Nitish’s remarks came just two days after former Jammu & Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah’s “Chor Machine” statement on the EVMs at the united opposition rally organized by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Saturday.
“The EVM is ‘chor machine’. Honestly speaking, it is so. Its use must be put to an end. Nowhere in the world this machine is used,” Farooq had said, adding, “The opposition parties should approach the Election Commission as well as the President of India to stop use of the EVMs and bring back the ballot papers for the sake of transparency.”
On the contrary, Nitish, who is also the JD(U) president, said the use of EVMs brought more transparency to the voting system. He said every EVM should have the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) mechanism to ensure more transparency.
Responding to a query, Nitish further said a JD(U) delegation recently met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) during his recent Patna visit and urged him for making arrangements for 100% VVPATs across the state.
“JD(U) also suggested the CEC to make necessary arrangements for proper distribution of elector slips to every household so that people could easily go to their identified booth to cast vote. Currently, the elector slips are handed over to someone and he doesn’t distribute these to each household,” Nitish said.
“Large number of people have started turning up at the polling booths after the introduction of EVMs to cast votes,” Nitish told reporters during his weekly ‘Lok Samvad’ programme here.
Nitish’s remarks came just two days after former Jammu & Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah’s “Chor Machine” statement on the EVMs at the united opposition rally organized by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Saturday.
“The EVM is ‘chor machine’. Honestly speaking, it is so. Its use must be put to an end. Nowhere in the world this machine is used,” Farooq had said, adding, “The opposition parties should approach the Election Commission as well as the President of India to stop use of the EVMs and bring back the ballot papers for the sake of transparency.”
On the contrary, Nitish, who is also the JD(U) president, said the use of EVMs brought more transparency to the voting system. He said every EVM should have the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) mechanism to ensure more transparency.
Responding to a query, Nitish further said a JD(U) delegation recently met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) during his recent Patna visit and urged him for making arrangements for 100% VVPATs across the state.
“JD(U) also suggested the CEC to make necessary arrangements for proper distribution of elector slips to every household so that people could easily go to their identified booth to cast vote. Currently, the elector slips are handed over to someone and he doesn’t distribute these to each household,” Nitish said.
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