Cong pushes Kamal Nath to ditch EVMs for ballot papers
The Kamal Nath government however appeared not keen to hold upcoming local bodies with ballot papers, sources said.
Bhopal: Ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Friday mounted pressure on chief minister Kamal Nath to return to ballot paper voting in the ensuing local body polls in the state in the state, scheduled to be held in January 2020.
The demand comes in the wake of the Bhupesh Baghel government initiating steps to dump Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the upcoming urban local body elections in Chhattisgarh, scheduled to be held in December this year, and hold the polls with ballot papers.
“MP should follow Chhattisgarh and use ballot paper in the upcoming urban local body elections here. I appeal to chief minister Mr Kamal Nath to return to ballot paper in the upcoming urban local body elections in MP”, a Twitter post by Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedy said on Friday.
Sources in the ruling party disclosed to this newspaper here on Friday that majority of ministers in the Kamal Nath cabinet were keen to hold the upcoming local body elections with ballot paper.
“A team of state ministers is going to meet Mr Nath to persuade him to go back to ballot paper instead of using EVMs in the ensuing local body polls”, sources said.
Mr Chaturvedy justified the demand for holding local body elections with ballot paper, saying that a section of experts still doubted if EVMs were fully temper proof.
Besides, Congress has been spearheading the campaign for doing away with EVMs and return to ‘time tested’ ballot papers to ensure free and fair elections in the country, he said.
The Kamal Nath government however appeared not keen to hold upcoming local bodies with ballot papers, sources said.