Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on April 2 said that there should be a “serious re-evaluation” on the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by all national parties.
Her comments on Twitter follow an incident on April 1 night in Assam where an EVM was reportedly found in the vehicle of Krishnendu Paul, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Patharkandi.
Ms. Vadra’s comments could restart the debate on the use of EVMs. In August 2018, at an all-party meeting convened by the Election Commission (EC), Opposition parties had demanded a return to the ballot paper system.
The latest trigger was a video posted by the Editor of an Assamese channel in which he claimed that an EVM was found in Mr. Paul’s car.
“Every time there is an election, videos of private vehicles caught transporting EVMs show up. Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common: 1. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates. 2. The videos are taken as one-off incidents and dismissed as aberrations. 3. The BJP uses its media machinery to accuse those who exposed the videos as sore losers,” Ms. Vadra alleged.
“The fact is that too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them. The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she added.