Congress president Rahul Gandhi made the announcement after a meeting of opposition parties, and said they had a distinct proposal for the EC.
New Delhi: Representatives of 20 opposition parties will approach the Election Commission Monday over “doubts” about electronic voting machines (EVMs), Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Friday.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of opposition parties, Gandhi said the parties will ask the Election Commission to ensure the mandatory authentication of EVM results with the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) in 50 per cent of polling booths in every constituency for all state and Lok Sabha elections.
“We have a distinct proposal and we will be meeting the election commissioner [sic] at 5.30 pm Monday,” Gandhi said. “There is a doubt in the mind of people about EVMs. So, we want to create a backup system. Its about building the confidence of people in the electoral system. All the opposition parties have unanimously agreed to the proposal.”
VVPAT is a machine that issues paper receipts for every vote cast on an EVM, while showing voters their chosen result on a screen for a few seconds.
The Election Commission has already made the tallying of VVPAT slips with the results of EVMs mandatory in five per cent of polling booths in each assembly constituency for all state and Lok Sabha elections.
Also read: What Election Commission can do to dispel the misconception about EVMs
‘A good meeting’
The participants at Friday’s meeting included Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien, Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party’s S.C. Mishra, Kanimozhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front.
Speaking about the opposition get-together, Gandhi said “overall, it was a good meeting”.
“The two central issues that we discussed are related to jobs and agriculture. There is one structural issue of how our institutions are being systematically attacked. All the opposition parties have decided to meet periodically to discuss and find a solution to these issues.”
Also read: EVMs being used as a football in a motivated slugfest: CEC Sunil Arora
‘Insult to farmers’
At the press conference, Gandhi lashed out at the NDA government’s budget announcement that farmers with a land holding of up to two hectares will get an assured income of Rs 6,000 per year.
“I don’t think giving Rs 17 per day to farmers is adequately addressing any issue,” he said. “It is an insult to them. There could not be a bigger insult than this.”
On jobs, Gandhi added, “As far as jobs are concerned, everybody knows what has happened. We are in a 45-year high of unemployment. There is a complete failure on these two fronts.”
Asked if the sops announced by the NDA in the interim budget had left the Congress issueless, Gandhi said the BJP was mistaken if it thought like this.
“The surgical strike on Mr Modi and the government is going to happen one after another in the next two months, on Rafale, on demonetisation, on jobs, on agriculture. We have a lot of issues,” Gandhi said.
The next meeting of the opposition parties is likely to take place after the budget session of Parliament gets over on 13 February.
1. I think opposition parties have been most unreasonable in their opposition to use of electronic voting machine (EVMs). I believe Chief Election Commissioner of India has done the right thing by ruling out retuning to use of ballot papers. His decision is the most appropriate decision. It is better to ignore criticism of all those who have made baseless allegations regarding the electronic voting machine (EVM). 2. So-called experts with perverse mind and ideology can go to any extent to prove that EVM can be manipulated. 3. We as citizen-voters know that in past the Election Commission of India (ECI) had given many an opportunity to anyone to prove that EVM can be hacked. Fact is that not one individual came forward to submit any proof. Strangely, someone wishes to hack an EVM in London to prove that EVM can be manipulated in India! 4. Opposition parties are opposing use of EVM for a silly reason: that it is possible for BJP to hack EVMs. If BJP could manipulate EVMs, it could have handsomely won recently held State Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. 5. Citizen-voters do want use of ballot papers, which are far more unsafe and unreliable as compared with EVMs.
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist, Barnala (Punjab)
Nothing should be left to chance and it is a smart move of the joint opposition to ensure vigilance
and precaution to avert any bungling or foul play in the voting !
It will also offer an opportunity to opposition parties to come closer to have better cohesion for the
common cause of not allowing anti-BJP vote to split ! Getting rid of authoritarian regime at all is in
the best interests of the nation !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest, Barnala (Punjab)