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said the Opposition would take up with first parties to cast doubts about EVMs
the EC the claims made by the cyber after the Punjab Assembly elections
expert that EVMs can be hacked. of 2017. During her trip to Delhi, West
Recently 17 opposition parties came Bengal chief minister Mamata Baner-
together to make a fresh, concerted jee told every opposition leader she met
demand that voters in the 2019 Lok to raise the demand for ballots in the
Sabha elections exercise their franchise upcoming election. Earlier, Sena chief
by stamping the ballot paper, not press- Uddhav Thackeray too demanded that
ing the button, according to leaders of the 2019 Lok Sabha election be con-
several parties familiar with the devel- ducted using ballot papers instead of
opments. Contending that electronic EVMs. Some time back, while address-
voting machines (EVMs), even those ing an Opposition rally in Kolkata,
with voter-verifiable paper audit trail National Conference leader Farooq
(VVPATs), would not be acceptable, the Abdullah called the EVM the “chor
parties made a fresh appeal to the Elec-
tion Commission of India.
However, ECI has maintained that Recently, 17
EVMs are tamper-proof, and that
VVPATs provide an additional layer to opposition parties
guarantee that voting is accurately cap- came together
tured. It has also repeatedly urged par-
ties to refrain from expressing doubts to make a fresh,
about their efficacy. The demand to concerted demand
scrap EVMs underlines the aggres-
sive mood of the Opposition camp. The that voters in the
demand for ballot boxes has also 2019 Lok Sabha
brought an unlikely set of parties to-
gether, even those warring against each elections exercise
other — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) their franchise by
and the Left, the Nationalist Congress
Party and the ruling National Demo- stamping the ballot
cratic Alliance’s (NDA) partner Shiv paper, not pressing
Sena, and the Telugu Desam Party and
the YSR Congress, among others. the button
The 17 political parties want to revert
to the ballot system. All like-minded
parties are playing as a team to make machine” and demanded that the bal- make a hue and cry when they win an
this happen. In the political resolu- lot paper system is brought back for the election conducted through EVMs.
tion adopted at its 84th plenary ses- sake of transparency. These parties did not appear before the
sion last year, the Congress urged EC to However, now, the Chief election election commission when it invited
revert to ballot papers instead of EVMs, commissioner OP Rawat has made them to appear before it and prove that
which have come under scrutiny fol- public statements ruling out reverting EVMs can be tampered with. The prob-
lowing allegations of tampering. The to ballot papers in elections, asserting lem, actually, is not with the EVM but
Congress resolution said that “there that the new EVMs have been designed with the intention of these parties.” But
are apprehensions among the political with more stringent checks to rule out experts suggested that EC should work
parties and people over the misuse of tampering or manipulation. The EC towards increasing voter confidence in
EVMs to manipulate the outcome con- has also communicated to the political EVMs.
trary to the popular verdict. To ensure parties to refrain from raising doubts The CJI- led Supreme Court Bench
the credibility of the electoral process, about the efficacy and safety of EVMs has already rejected a plea seeking
EC should revert to the old practice of and VVPAT machines when the poll direction to EC to conduct assembly
paper ballot, as most major democra- outcome is different from what they elections and Lok Sabha polls using
cies have done.” expect. ballot papers instead of EVM. The plea
Aam Admi Party leader Sanjay Singh The BJP leaders opine that opposi- was moved to Supreme Court express-
and TMC MP Subrata Bakshi had delib- tion parties only complain about EVMs ing doubts over how full proof the EVM
erations on it. The AAP was among the when they lose elections. “They do not process is. However, the Supreme Court

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