Congress urges EC to revert to ballot papers, dump EVMs

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday joined anti-EVM chorus and urged the Election Commission to revert to the old practice of paper ballots. In its political resolution, the party said, “The Election Commission has the constitutional mandate to ensure free and fair elections. Both the voting and counting process must remain transparent to retain people’s faith in the integrity of the electoral system.”

“There are apprehensions among the political parties and the people over the misuse of EVMs to manipulate the outcome contrary to the popular verdict. To ensure the credibility of the electoral process, the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot, as most major democracies have done,” it added.

The idea of simultaneous elections was also rejected by the Congress. In its resolution, the party said the BJP’s move of simultaneous elections is “misplaced” and is “incompatible with the Constitution”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pressing upon the idea of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state Assemblies, contending that it will save money and time.

After the UP Assembly elections, former chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati had also raised doubts on the EVMs. A delegation of the Opposition parties had met the Election Commission over the issue, while the Aam Aadmi Party government, in the Delhi Assembly, had given a demonstration about the ways in which the EVMs could be hacked into, resulting in just one outcome.